It is just as important to look after and clean your dentures as your natural teeth.
A denture that isn’t looked after well will wear faster and can cause other health issues

Cleaning your dentures should be performed with a soft toothbrush and something like dishwashing liquid. That’s right, dishwashing liquid and NOT toothpaste. The reason for this is that regular toothpaste is too abrasive for denture acrylic. It’s basically liquid sandpaper. In a lot of cases people aren’t told this and we can usually identify that toothpaste has been used over a long period of time as the denture will have a distinct amount of wear on it. So dishwashing liquid is really all that is required to clean a denture (just make sure it’s well rinsed before placing back in your mouth).

The most important part of keeping your denture clean is to not let food build up on them. If you are at home and have just had something to eat, when you get a free moment take out your dentures and give them a rinse. If you are out at a restaurant or a pub, don’t feel like you immediately need to rush off and rinse your dentures there, it’s not that urgent. Just make sure you rinse and brush when you get home.

Always try to take your dentures out before going to sleep at night. Wearing your dentures all the time is like leaving a bandaid on for a few days. When you take it off the skin is all soft and moist, which is prime conditions for fungal infections and this can occur in your mouth under the denture base. A lot of patients that we see were never told this when they first got their dentures and similarly to not using toothpaste, we are the first clinic to provide them with a bit better information about denture wearing. We also completely understand though that some habits are hard to break and in some cases a person may not want to take their dentures out at night so their significant other only sees them with their teeth in. If this is the case we recommend using a soft toothbrush (not the detergent one) and some toothpaste and massaging the gums a couple of times a day to exfoliate the skin.

A good routine with your dentures would be to brush them with dishwashing liquid before you go to bed and leaving them overnight in a glass of fresh water. This way they are ready to go first thing in the morning.