Seniors should remove dentures at bedtime

(HealthDay)—Seniors who wear their dentures when they sleep are at increased risk for pneumonia, according to new research.

The study included 524 men and women, average age about 88, who were followed for three years. During that time, there were 28 hospitalizations and 20 deaths from pneumonia.

Among the 453 denture wearers, the 41 percent who wore their dentures when they slept were about twice as likely to develop pneumonia as those who removed their dentures at night, according to Toshimitsu Iinuma of Nihon University School of Dentistry in Japan, and colleagues.

The risk of pneumonia associated with wearing dentures at night is comparable with the high risk of pneumonia linked with mental impairment, history of stroke and respiratory disease, the researchers said.

The researchers also found that seniors who wore their dentures while sleeping were more likely to have problems such as tongue and denture plaque and gum inflammation, according to the study published online Oct. 7 in the Journal of Dental Research.

The implications of the study findings are straightforward—seniors should be told not to wear their dentures while they sleep, Frauke Mueller, of the University of Geneva in Switzerland, wrote in an accompanying commentary.