There are many potential conditions that can affect denture wearers. One of the most annoying and common is oral candidiasis, also called denture-related stomatitis. Although in many cases proper care of dentures is sufficient to reduce the risk of this infection, it nonetheless remains a problem for many people. That’s why researchers are trying to invent dentures that impair the growth of these organisms.
Different Approaches for Using Silver to Treat Candida
There have been many approaches proposed for treating Candida infections among the natural health community. Some of these claims are overstated, and it’s important to remember that, contrary to some claims, there are potential risks of using silver to treat Candida. Silver is potentially toxic, and so taking too much silver either topically or in a supplement can be dangerous.
So one of the challenges of producing a good antifungal denture has been identifying which types of silver were more toxic to Candida than they are to us. The use of silver nanoparticles was determined to be the most effective at dosages that were nontoxic to us.
Incorporating Silver into Dentures
Now that we have found that silver nanoparticles can be effective against Candida, several different methods for incorporating it into dentures have been proposed. The use of a soft lining material incorporated with silver has been proposed , and it has been shown to have moderate effect in reducing Candida populations. On the other hand, some have proposed incorporating silver nanoparticles directly into the denture’s acrylic base. This has been tested on multiple occasions, and has been shown to significantly decrease the growth of Candida fungus.
In all cases, the silver nanoparticles have been claimed to be nontoxic to human cells, but in none of the cases have the materials actually been tested in someone’s mouth. Maybe that will be the next step.
If you are looking for great-fitting dentures that can help reduce your risk of many denture-related problems, we can help. Please call (803) 781-9090 for an appointment with a Columbia, SC denture dentist today.
