Physical-chemical aspects of denture retention and stability: a review of the literature.

The physical-chemical mechanism of retention of dentures is a highly complex one. A review of the literature suggests in addition that retention also is a personal phenomenon under the control of numerous factors. Chief among the factors involved in the retention of a well-adapted denture are the forces related to the wetting of the denture and of the mucosal surfaces and the cohesive or intermolecular characteristics of the saliva. The ill-fitting denture most often results from an increase of variation in the denture-mucosa interspace, probably due to bone resorption rather than to any major changes in the physical-chemical factors.