Impact of homecare ultrasonic denture cleaning on pathogenic bacterial load: A randomized controlled clinical trial

To compare the efficacy of a homecare ultrasonic denture cleaning protocol with conventional denture cleaning for reducing a comprehensive panel of pathogenic bacteria associated with oral and systemic infections.

This prospective, single-blind, block-randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted over a three-month period. Fifty-six participants (mean age 69.8 years) were randomly assigned to either the test arm (using a portable ultrasonic cleaner and enzymatic peroxide-based denture cleanser tablets) or the control arm (using a denture brush with the same cleanser tablets), with both interventions performed once daily. A quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis targeting a universal 16S primer and nine pathogenic bacteria was performed.

The test arm showed a significantly lower total bacterial load at the 3-month follow-up than the control arm (P = 0.022), as measured using the 16S universal primer. Both arms demonstrated a significant reduction in the bacterial load from baseline to three months for Staphylococcus aureus, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Additionally, significant reductions in the bacterial loads of Streptococcus mutans (P = 0.003) and Streptococcus agalactiae (P = 0.014) were observed exclusively in the test arm. Notably, the prevalence of pathogenic bacteria ranged from 39.3% to 100% at baseline, and from 21.4% to 100% at three months.

Although no significant differences were noted in the bacterial loads of the nine pathogenic species between the test and control arms, ultrasonic cleaning supplemented with an effervescent denture cleanser performed better than the conventional approach in reducing the total bacterial load on denture surfaces in older adults.