Functional and qualitative factors in complete dentures can contribute to the development of lesions in the oral mucosa. Such lesions are classified as denture stomatitis (DS). There are considerable differences of opinion as to its etiology, mainly related to systemic and local factors. The influence of functional and qualitative features of complete dentures on denture stomatitis was evaluated. The functional factors considered were: occlusion, vertical dimension of occlusion (VDO), dynamic and static retention, as well as stability. The qualitative factors were: oral and prosthetic hygiene, continuous use, complete denture status, time of use and time of edentulism. The study group comprised 116 totally edentulous patients, with and without DS, of both genders using tissue-supported prostheses. The data were analyzed through the Chi-square test, at the 0.05 significance level, and through the Fisher test, when the frequency was low. The results indicated that the majority of our patients presented DS. None of these factors was by itself responsible for the presence of DS, indicating that DS was probably due to many factors.
Denture; Dental occlusion; Denture retention; Stomatitis
