Denture care behaviours and denture-related quality of life of elderly denture wearers in Hong Kong

Objective: To investigate the denture care practices, denture-related problems, and denture-related quality of life of elderly denture wearers in Hong Kong. Method: The study population was elders aged 60 or above, living in the community, had self-care ability, and no serious systemic diseases. Elders attending elderly social centres in different districts in Hong Kong were recruited and face-to-face interviews were conducted by three trained interviewers using a pilot-tested structured questionnaire. Result: 216 elders (45 men and 171 women) with a mean age of 77.2±7.6 years were interviewed in the survey. Most (54%) of them had worn denture for more than 10 years, and most elders were satisfied with the denture they were wearing. The vast majority (92%) wore denture to improve mastication; and among them, 71% thought their denture was of great help. Over 85% wore their denture for a whole day but removed it before sleep. Only 13% had used denture adhesive and nearly half (45%) of these elders found it not helpful. They usually used a toothbrush (70%) and toothpaste (58%) to clean their denture. Proportionally more female than male denture wearers cleaned their denture more than twice daily (50% vs. 24%, p