A SEM study of denture plaque and oral mucosa of denture-related stomatitis.

The aim of this study was to compare the morphology of denture plaque and adjacent palatal mucosa in five subjects with denture-related stomatitis and a control group of five healthy subjects. Scanning electron microscope examination of copper plate replicas, which preliminary studies established were superior to epoxy resin replicas, showed that there were no consistent differences between the morphology of denture plaque and adjacent mucosa in the denture-related stomatitis group and control group. In each, the surface of the denture plaque was composed predominantly of coccoid- and rod-shaped bacteria with only some yeast cells. The mucosa was largely devoid of microorganisms and individual epithelial cells were shedding from its surface.