Denture Cream User Frustrated by Lack of Warnings

November 28, 2009, 11:00AM. By Heidi Turner

Colton, NYJessica H. (real name withheld) has been using Fixodent denture adhesive and other adhesives for almost 30 years. Approximately 15 years ago, she started to notice problems that are now associated with denture cream zinc poisoning. However, it was not until recently that Jessica made the connection between the denture adhesive and her health problems.

"I didn't even connect the denture cream with any of my health issues until I was reading an article online," Jessica says. "I have had dentures since I was in my 20s—I'm 54 now—and have used denture cream of some type through those years. Sometimes I used it up to three or four times a day, depending on what I was doing.

"I didn't notice a lot of health effects until this last 15 years. At one point I was a brown belt in karate—that should give you an idea of the shape I was in—but my health has gone progressively downhill.

"I am now in the process of having blood work done to verify the cause of my health problems. But, I spoke to my physician and we agreed that the denture cream might be a contributing factor to my declining health.

"My health problems started mainly with just muscle fatigue and aches. I thought it was because I was teaching, going to school, raising kids and exercising. It got to the point where I couldn't do things. I couldn't go for my second brown belt test and I couldn't dance like I used to.

"Then I had blood pressure issues. My blood pressure would bottom out, then get high. I had severe issues with joints; I couldn't walk for long distances. I know some things happen with age, but this seems more debilitating than it should be. I left teaching because I couldn't be on my feet all day. I can't get disability because of my age and education. I am a stained glass artist but I can't be on my feet to do the stained glass, so it takes three times as long to do things. I can't do the hobbies I loved.

"I've stopped using the denture cream now that the blood work is done. Hopefully, my health will start rebounding.

"They [the makers of the denture cream] should have let people know about the risks. I was young when I started using dentures. You don't want them slipping because you don't want people to know about them, so you use Fixodent or PoliGrip to keep them in place. They should have warned people that this could be debilitating.

"I'm ticked off about the whole thing, especially if we verify through the tests that this is because of denture cream. It's ridiculous to not be warned about it."