Some clinical investigations on retention forces of maxillary complete dentures with the use of denture fixatives

The aim of this study was to evaluate objectively and clinically the relative improvement in retention forces of complete dentures with the use of three proprietary denture fixatives. Using the UCL Retentiometer, retention forces of ill-fitting maxillary complete dentures were measured with saliva alone as the interface medium and with the use of the three test denture fixatives in edentulous subjects over a period of 6 h. Results showed that forces with saliva alone were consistently and significantly lower when compared with the forces measured at any test period with the use of the test fixatives. A sixfold improvement in forces from the salivary baseline values was observed when these materials were used. However, the test fixatives showed substantial variations in retention forces depending on the physical formulation of the material. Whilst the powder variety was effective immediately after its application, retention forces with the liquid and paste materials did not peak until 3 h post-insertion. Measurements at 6 h post-insertion stage showed that the powder fixative was the least effective of the three materials. This was mainly attributed to the rapid washing of the active ingredients by saliva because of the absence of oily base present in the paste and liquid materials.