Germs From Dirty Dentures Could Cause Pneumonia

Dentures are oral appliances that replace missing teeth in the jaws. Cleaning your dentures is important and here’s why. A recent study shows that if not cleaned properly, dentures could have a pivotal role to play in causing pneumonia.

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Dirty Dentures: A Playing Field for Microbes to Colonize

Unclean dentures provide a new surface where disease-causing microbes can colonize. People who wear dentures may then be aspirating (inhaling) saliva containing harmful microbes into their lungs, where an infection can then take hold, said the researchers from Cardiff University, UK.

In the study, they took mouth, tongue, and denture swabs from a group of patients in the hospital who had pneumonia and wore dentures. They then compared this to samples taken from denture-wearing patients in care homes who did not have pneumonia.

They then analyzed the samples to identify the abundance and types of microbes present in the samples ().

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Association Between Dentures and Pneumonia-Causing Bacteria

"We were expecting to see a difference but were surprised to see 20 times the number of potentially pneumonia-causing bacteria on dentures in people with pneumonia, compared to people without," said lead author Dr. Josh Twigg, from the university.

While the study, published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology, identifies a possible connection, Dr. Twigg stresses: "You certainly couldn't say that people got pneumonia because they were wearing dentures. It's just showing that there is an association there. This research is an early step in trying to unravel that puzzle of what exactly is the sequence of events."

While more research needs to take place, the public can still learn from the findings, according to Dr Twigg.

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Cleaning Dentures and Visiting the Dentist Regularly Advised

"Our research has shown that there are potentially harmful microbial communities on dentures. It is important to clean dentures thoroughly," he said.

By attending the dentist regularly for check-ups and learning about the best way to look after your teeth, Dr. Twigg hopes that more people will avoid needing to wear dentures entirely.

Reference:

Compositional shifts within the denture-associated bacteriome in pneumonia - an analytical cross-sectional study - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37341468/)

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