In Vitro Effectiveness of a Terpenic Denture Cleanser on Old Biofilm Surfaces

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the effects of terpenic denture cleanser on denture biofilm removal using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Materials and Methods: The internal surface biofilm of four maxillary dentures was elucidated with Caristop-revelador Dual Tone, and 40 blue-stained specimens (0.6 cm × 0.4 cm × 2 mm) were obtained. These specimens were randomly assigned to one of the following four groups of 10 specimens each: control, Eci Clean, Fitty Dent, and terpenic denture cleanser. The period of immersion in each solution was 12 hours. Biofilm removal was evaluated using SEM, and morphologically varying areas of the SEM images were quantified with Imaris software. The data were analyzed using Kolmogorov-Smirnov, t-tests, ANOVA, and Tamhane's tests (p = 0.05). Results: Data revealed that terpenic denture cleanser removed significantly more biofilm than any other treatment examined in this study. The t-tests revealed significant differences in the clean area that resulted from the use of the terpenic cleanser compared with the clean area that resulted from the use of Eci Clean (p = 0.013). Fitty Dent was the least effective and left dirty acrylic resin. The average areas with few removed layers were 59.3%, 43.3%, and 9.5% in Fitty Dent, Eci Clean, and terpenic cleanser groups, respectively. Tamhane's tests indicated that the Eci Clean and Fitty Dent groups were significantly different from the 0.5% terpenic cleanser group (p = 0.008). Conclusion: The terpenic denture cleanser was effective in removing denture biofilm.