Assessment of hygiene habits and attitudes among removable partial denture wearers in a university hospital.

AIMS The aim of this study was conducting a survey of hygiene habits and use of removable partial dentures (RPDs) and correlate them with the social conditions of the interviewees. METHODS A total of 145 RPD wearers were interviewed by experienced clinical staff using a structured questionnaire. A Chi-squared test was performed to evaluate statistical significance between the variables, and the level of significance was P<0.05. RESULTS A total of 72 (49%) patients reported that they had not been well informed by the dentists. Brushing was the most frequent cleaning method (57.6%). 77 (53.1%) patients did not take off their dentures at night. The frequency of cleaning dentures and using cleansing tablet was significantly higher in females than in males (P<0.05). The frequency of denture cleaning, cleaned parts of denture, use of cleansing tablet, removal of dentures at night, frequency of tooth brushing, does not show any significant difference according to age, educational status or duration of denture usage (P>0.05). RPD wearers did not clean their dentures and natural teeth satisfactorily and had limited knowledge of denture cleansing and oral hygiene maintenance. CONCLUSIONS Hygiene habits and attitudes may be affected by gender, but education level and hygiene attitudes may not always present positive correlation. Dentists should thoroughly inform patients about the harmful effects of overnight wearing and motivate to clean metal parts of RPD's and cleansing tablet use in order to minimize the abrasive effect of widely preferred cleaning method of brushing with toothpaste.