Effects of nicotine chewing gum on complete dentures and their soft-tissue-bearing areas

One hundred six edentulous subjects were given nicotine-containing chewing gum to evaluate the ability to chew the gum, to observe the adherence of the gum to denture-base materials, and to evaluate the effect of gum chewing on denture-bearing tissues. Prior to the 13-week study, the denture-bearing ridges and the tissue and polished surfaces of the denture were evaluated clinically and photographed. Questionnaires were used to elicit personal habits of the subjects. Of the 59 subjects completing the study, most could manipulate and chew the gum effectively, three-fourths reported that gum adherence was not a problem, and no adverse reaction to oral tissues was observed.