Cleaning your Dentures

Denture hygiene is just as important as looking after your natural teeth, to ensure that the supporting soft and hard tissues remain healthy. It is a good habit to rinse your dentures after meals removing food remnants from the under-surfaces.

Mechanically clean your dentures each day with a denture brush and denture toothpaste over a basin or sink partly filled with water or covered with a wet face-cloth. This is to prevent breakage if dropped. Do not clean dentures in the shower, also in case you drop them! Cleaning should be carried out 2 to 3 times daily.

Chemically clean your dentures at the end of the day, at nighttime, by removing your dentures and placing them in a container of water, together with a Steradent or Polident tablet or powder. Do this once or twice a week for 10 minutes for light stains and for heavier stains for 20 minutes. For more stubborn staining, soak the dentures every night with the Steradent or Polident cleanser tablet or powder.

Chemical cleaning can also be done each night using household bleach (3 tablespoons of Janola® into 2 cups of water) for 10 minutes only. However, please be careful by remembering to thoroughly rinse your dentures before reinserting them in your mouth.

When not in your mouth, dentures should be stored in a container of water following cleaning and before going to bed at night.

Mouthrinses like Savacol or Listerine are also useful to rinse your mouth at night after removing the dentures. Massage your gums with a facecloth and brush the top of your tongue daily with a soft toothbrush or electric toothbrush to remove food remnants that can cause bad breath.