General.

Dentures should be given the same careful cleansing as the natural teeth. The conscious patient normally wears his teeth. Moreover, since some patients are embarrassed by having artificial teeth, medical personnel should be considerate. The patient normally cleans his mouth and natural teeth while dentures are out of his mouth. Clean dentures under running water, if possible.

b. Equipment.

The equipment necessary to clean dentures follows:

(1) Tissues.

(2) Washbasin.

(3) Toothbrush or denture brush, dentifrice.

(4) Denture container.

c. Procedure.

The following procedure is appropriate for cleaning dentures for a bed patient as in figure 1-13.

(1) Ask the patient to remove dentures and place them in the container, which may be a glass of water if no other container is available.

(2) While the patient is cleaning his mouth, take his dentures to the sink. Give him tissues to wipe his mouth.

(3) Place the basin in the sink and brush the dentures over the basin under running water. In event the denture is dropped, it will be cushioned by the water in the basin. After thorough brushing, rinse the dentures and place them in a basin of water while cleaning the denture container.

(4) Return the dentures in the container to the patient.

(5) When a denture is not in use, place it in a marked clean container filled with clean water. Patients should neither wrap a denture in tissue or other material nor store it in a pajama pocket, under the pillow, or in a drawer.