Retention of denture adhesives--an in vitro study.

Denture adhesives are being used by patients to aid the retention and stability of their dentures. A number of laboratory and clinical investigations have been conducted to study the effects of such adhesives. This study describes a simple in vitro method for measurement of their retentive effect and its relation to loss of adhesive. The results show that there is a reduction in the effectiveness of adhesives, and that there is also an increase in adhesive loss, with time. There appears to be a correlation between these two properties.