Purpose: The aim of this systematic review was to analyze the evidence on the occurrence of denture stomatitis (DS) and potential risk factors in patients wearing partial removable dental prostheses (RDPs).
Materials and methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched and complemented by manual searching. Outcome measures were the presence of DS in patients wearing partial RDPs and an assessment of associated risk factors. All types of experimental and observational studies investigating an association between DS and the wearing of partial RDPs were included. Methodologic quality and level of evidence were assessed using valid scales. Two authors performed study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment independently.
Results: A total of eight studies met the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of DS in partial RDP wearers ranged from 1.1% to 36.7%. Data on the potential risk factors were not consistent. Despite the heterogeneity and methodologic quality of included studies, an association between DS and the wearing of partial RDPs was found.
Conclusions: There is some evidence that the presence of DS is associated with the wearing of partial RDPs. However, because of methodologic limitations and cross-sectional designs of research studies, no cause-effect relationship could be inferred. Future research should provide higher levels of evidence to confirm the etiology of DS in partial RDP wearers.