Ill Fitting Dentures Could Cause Big Health Problems

July 1st, 2009. By LucyC

If you are one of the several million denture wearers in North America, and find yourself using more than the standard amount of denture cream adhesive to keep your dentures in place, you may be putting yourself at risk for serious neurological disease.

Cases of Zinc Poisoning from Denture Cream Reported

A recent article in the medical journal Neurology, reported on documented cases of patients who had suffered zinc poisoning, believed to be associated with the use of zinc-containing denture creams. (Note: To date, products linked to the denture cream poisoning include PoliGrip, Super PoliGrip and Fixodent denture adhesive.)

Patients from the cases suffered symptoms such as numbness and weakness in the arms and legs resulting in wheelchair dependence, urinary tract infection (bladder infection), mental cognitive decline, hand weakness and numbness, poor balance, progressive numbness, loss of sense of vibration, and poor muscular coordination. The patients documented were in their 40’s and not long-time adhesive wearers.

Thing is, we need zinc for nucleic acid synthesis. This means that the body requires zinc in the tissues where new cell development takes place such as the bone marrow, immune cells and the lining of the gut or intestinal tract. But too much zinc exposure can cause copper deficiency, or hypocupremia, which results in neurological disease.

How Much Zinc is Too Much?

The patients in the study were estimated to have been exposed to at least 330 mg of zinc per day, based on their patterns of denture cream use, which is much higher than the recommended daily allowance of 8 mg for women and 11 mg for men. In 2001, the National Academy of Sciences stated that the largest daily tolerable zinc intake is 40 mg.

So what are you supposed to do if you wear dentures and need adhesive? Talk to your dentist about the different types of adhesives available, and possibly other options to dentures. Piling on the fixative is not recommended. The researchers at the University of Texas who did the study estimated that a tube of denture cream should last between 3 to 10 weeks.

Tags: denture cream, Fixodent. PoliGrip, zinc poisoning

This was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 9:41 am and is filed under Defective Products, Emerging Issues, Personal Injury . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.