I read with great fascination the excellent May JADA special supplement, "Saliva and Oral Health." It was sad to find that there was little mention of four basic properties of saliva: adhesion, cohesion, surface tension and viscosity. These factors are basic to the oral health of our aging population of denture wearers.
Saliva is basic for the retention of a conventional full denture. Saliva must adhere to the mucosa and the surface of the denture. The layer of saliva between the denture and the mucosa should be highly cohesive and, thus, difficult to break. The outer surface of the denture where it joins the mucosa is wet with saliva, as is the mucosa; this outer common layer of saliva should be difficult to break because of surface tension. The saliva should be viscous so that it flows with difficulty when the denture is displaced.
An entire industry—denture adhesives—is based on supplementing the physical attributes of saliva in denture retention. Denture retention is basic to oral (and systemic) health in our aging population. Saliva is basic for denture retention.
