Oral mucosa and complete dentures.

The reduction in the epithelial thickness under dentures did not reach the level of significance. The significant reduction in the epithelial morphology indicating a flatter basement membrane would suggest that the epithelium undergoes an adaptive change as a result of surface loading to produce a more uniform epithelium. The degree of keratinization was less and the stratum corneum was thinner in the epithelium under dentures. The complete dentures in these studies seemed to reduce the quantity and quality of the keratin layer. This study has shown that the presence of a denture produced a more regular epithelium with few rete ridges, and a thinner, less highly keratinized stratum corneum.