Covid19 – The 3 Main Transmitters 

The Why – How – When – To Denture and Dental Hygiene

In this difficult time with danger from the Covid19 virus we must seek ways to follow the guidelines given to us from government sources. We have been told to keep social distance, avoid crowds, be cautious of anyone coughing and sneezing.  The 3 main transmitters or pathway for the virus to enter your body is through eyes nose and mouth.

Avoid touching your nose or eyes are simple enough but how do you deal with your mouth and for many people, their dentures.

The following is an easy way to help KEEP YOU SAFE and look after your general health while dealing specifically with your oral hygiene.

Why Do We Need To Think Of Oral Hygiene?

The mouth is a warm moist environment, the conditions ideal to harbour and encourage a virus to flourish.  Many people touch their mouth without thinking, doing all the everyday things we do, like eating, drinking, sharing food and treats.  Often leading to licking sticky fingers.  So, keeping the mouth in as healthy a state as possible involves some simple hygiene practices. For those wearing dentures it is important to clean and disinfect dentures. Dentures become covered with a biofilm, a natural occurring gloopy substance which needs to be removed daily by washing.

❗ It is necessary to clean both your mouth and your dentures.

How To Put In Place Good Oral Hygiene?

Caring for your mouth involves brushing your teeth and gums.  Gentle tooth brushing is recommended using a soft bristle toothbrush, taking care to brush between teeth and the area between tooth and gum, use a gentle rotating movement.  This will help to remove plaque, which is a breeding ground for bacteria.

✔️TIP: Try brushing with your mouth closed or semi-closed or use your other hand to reduce spray from the mouth.  Make a habit of rinsing your mouth morning and evening.  Covid19 is spread through droplets from the 3 transmitters so make sure to wipe clean all the surfaces around where you are carrying out the oral hygiene.

Denture wearers should rinse their mouth after removing and before inserting their dentures.  Lean into the sink if possible, to reduce spray when spitting the rinse.  After eating, denture wearers should rinse both mouth and dentures, not always practical if a person is socialising or working, but this could be done when convenient.  It helps to build up a good oral hygiene routine.

✔️TIP:  Use warm water and salt as a mouth wash.  Cold herbal tea, spearmint flavour can also be used as a pleasant mouthwash.

Caring For Your Denture

This will lead to a safe hygiene routine.  Dentures need to be washed morning and evening and after meals, where possible.  To wash your denture simply use a large bowl (a large plastic pudding bowl is ideal), hand hot water and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid.  A denture brush, toothbrush, or nail brush can be used to clean between the teeth and inside and outside of the denture.  This will remove the biofilm and food debris.  Denture adhesive should be removed also.

✔️TIPS:  Take care handling your denture, it is a precious prosthesis.  Use a large bowl to wash the denture, as above, DO NOT USE BOILING WATER. Always wash denture over a bowl or towel (to avoid dropping or breaking). Place a folded towel in hand-basin, put bowl of water and dishwashing liquid, on top of towel, (this saves washing many towels).  Wash as above.

✔️TIP: Denture adhesive should be removed as well. If it is difficult to remove, place it in a glass of iced water it then becomes hard, pick it off taking care not to damage denture.

✔️Tip:  Dentures need to be disinfected but must be washed clean as above. NEVER disinfect dentures unless they have been washed first.  A good homemade solution can be made using distilled white vinegar and water.  Use equal amounts of both (50/50%) water and distilled white vinegar in bowl sufficient to cover the denture.  Soak for 30 minutes twice a week to disinfect, for persistent staining soak overnight.  Caution DO NOT use this solution on dentures with metal or clasps as they will become discoloured.  And finally, do not reuse this solution as it contains plaque, tartar and food debris that was on the denture.

❗ DENTURES MUST BE RINSED THOROUGHLY AFTER BEING WASHED AND DISINFECTED BEFORE BEING PUT BACK IN TO THE MOUTH.

Emergency Collection / Delivery Service

People need to eat and keep up their strength, so we are offering a collection service for denture repairs

✔️We have a Home pick up service for broken dentures to remove stress around a broken denture and not wanting to leave the house– we will send one of our team to you.

For Dental or Denture Appointments or to speak to one of our dedicated team for more Information, call us 01 455 1866 or email clinics@dentaltech.ie

Please phone first as pre-screening is essential for the protection, health and welfare of our team Our Phone lines will be open from 8.30am to 5.30pm for any enquiries or support you may need!

When Should You Put These Health Practices Into Place?

The answer is to build up a routine that suits yourself as many people have different lifestyles with family and work responsibilities.  Not everyone is a denture wearer and those people would most likely have a tooth brushing routine in place already.

For denture wearers a good, healthy, mouth and denture routine is advised as above.  Ideally dentures should be washed every day, after meals and when retiring for the night.  The mouth should be rinsed and if there are teeth present, they should be brushed.

Combing these actions will lead to a more comfortable denture. Protecting your denture, teeth, as well as your gums will lead to a healthy lifestyle. This will make the 3 main transmitters of the COVID 19

Article by Mary Mahon, Director and Co-Owner of Dental Tech Group

For Emergency Appointments and further Information 01 455 1866 or email clinics@dentaltech.ie

Our Phone lines will be open from 8.30am to 5.30pm for any enquiries or support you may need

Stay safe – Stay healthy

Dental Tech Denture Clinics

DUBLIN – Whitehall House, Terenure, Dublin 6W – Call 01 4551866

WEXFORD – The Whitemill Medical Centre, Wexford – Call 053 9192999

WATERFORD – Waterford Health Park, Waterford – Call 051 365999

KILDARE – Vista Primary Care, Naas, Kildare – Call 01 4551866