Efficacy of denture cleansers-a comparitive study

Denture cleansing is commonly done by soaking the denture in chemical denture cleansers.This study was done to evaluate the efficacy of two commonly used denture cleansers, sodium hypochlorite and sodium perborate in removing tea stain from denture bases made of nylon (polyamide based) and polymethyl methacrylate resins. The following materials and methods were used.Polymethylmethacrylate and nylon (polyamide based) resin samples were prepared. They were divided into four groups and all the samples were stained with tea solution. Stained samples were subjected to immersion in commonly used denture cleansers like sodium hypochlorite (VI-Clean) and sodium perborate (Clinsodent).Optical density values were measured before & after staining and after 20 minutes & 8 hours of immersion in the cleansers using spectrophotometer. The datas were analysed statistically.Sodium hypochlorite (VI-clean) was found to be more effective in removing tea stains from both the denture base samples than sodium perborate (Clinsodent). It was also found to be more efficient in removing tea stain from nylon (polyamide based) samples than polymethylmethacrylate.