Objective: To find out how the use of new acrylic full upper removable dentures changes the perception of four basic tastes: sweetness, sourness, saltiness and bitterness, and to evaluate the influence of age and gender.
Material and methods: This study was performed in LSMU MA Faculty of Odontology Department of Prosthodontics during 2017-09-01 - 2018-02-01. All the patients for whom new acrylic upper removable dentures were made were invited to take part. 30 patients have taken part. Sixteen solutions for basic tastes: sweetness, sourness, saltiness and bitterness; were made. The patients were examined without and with their new dentures. The patients were told to rinse an unknown solution starting from the lowest concentration and to identify the taste. Data analysis was performed using SPSS® (IBM®, Armonk, USA) version 23.
Results: Patients with full upper removable dentures felt sweet (p=0.002) and sour (p=0.000) taste weaker than without them, the same tendency was observed with bitter (p=0.063) and salty (p=0.059) taste. The time required to identify the taste was longer with removable dentures than without them (p<0.05). Identification of saltiness became weaker both with and without removable dentures as the age of the patients increased (p<0.05). Bitterness was identified better by women than men both with and without removable dentures (p<0.05). Age and gender had no influence on other basic tastes (p>0.05).
Conclusion: The results of this study confirm the presumption that acrylic full upper removable dentures weaken the taste perception of the patients.