Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 3, 2026

2-Methacryloyloxyethyl Phosphorylcholine Polymer Treatment of Complete Dentures to Inhibit Denture Plaque Deposition
Published on: December 26, 2016
A critical review of protocols for conventional microwave oven use for denture disinfection
1Department of Oral Health Sciences, Division of Preventive & Community Dentistry and Prosthodontics and Dental Geriatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Introduction:
The lack of proper denture hygiene may cause denture stomatitis and be detrimental to older adults' health. The cleaning of complete dentures should be quick, efficient, and easy to perform, although it might not guarantee disinfection. The use of a microwave oven has been suggested for aiding in the disinfection of complete dentures, but lacks a gold standard protocol.
Objectives:
To critically review the literature on protocols for complete denture disinfection using conventional microwave ovens.
Methods:
A comprehensive literature search through PubMed Central, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Ovid MEDLINE (R) In-Process focused on publications in English dealing with microwave therapy for denture disinfection, and on the protocols used.
Results:
A total of 266 articles with the full-text available were found; 31 were included in this manuscript after 236 were excluded. The protocols for microwave oven use for disinfection of complete dentures varied in terms of oven potency, time used for microwaving, and solution in which the complete dentures were immersed.
Conclusions:
There is still no standardized protocol for microwave oven use for denture disinfection. Although underutilized in residential care, daily denture hygiene seems to still be the optimal method for controlling fungal infections and denture stomatitis.
Related Concept Videos
Cleaning, Sterilization, and Disinfection
Cleaning
The cleaning process usually involves using water with detergents or enzymatic cleaner and removing foreign material from objects and surfaces, including organic material such as body fluids or inorganic material like soil. Cleaning is performed before high-level disinfection and sterilization because foreign materials on the cover of the devices interfere with process...
Review and Preview
Percentiles are a type of fractile that partition data into...
Review and Preview
Sign Convention
The normal force acts perpendicular to the beam's cross-section and can...
Critical Region, Critical Values and Significance Level
In hypothesis testing, a sample statistic is converted to a test statistic using z, t, or chi-square distribution. A critical region is an area under the curve in probability distributions demarcated by the critical value. When the test statistic falls in this region, it suggests that the null hypothesis must be rejected. As this region contains all those values of the...
Critical Values

