Dr. Gunjan Dhir and Denture Care at Casa Dental in Dumas

• Dr. Gunjan Dhir is a prosthodontist and a co founder of Altius Dental, the group that operates Casa Dental in Dumas, Texas.
• She was lead author of a peer reviewed Journal of Prosthodontics study on denture materials designed to resist Candida, the yeast behind denture stomatitis.
• Denture stomatitis is a common, often painless redness under a denture, and it tends to return because the yeast lives on the denture surface.
• Casa Dental offers full and partial dentures, implant retained dentures, and denture relines to keep your fit healthy.
• Casa Dental is a 4.2 star denture practice in Dumas, Texas, with care led by Dr. Ali M. Alshabeeb, DMD.

Who Is Dr. Gunjan Dhir, Prosthodontist and Dental Researcher?

Dr. Gunjan Dhir is a prosthodontist and a co founder and Chief Dental Officer of Altius Dental, the group that operates Casa Dental. Prosthodontics is the dental specialty focused on rebuilding a mouth after tooth loss with dentures, bridges, and implants.

Before she helped build Altius Dental, Dr. Gunjan Dhir was a published researcher. She earned her dental degree in 2002, completed prosthodontics training in the United States in 2005, and practiced in Washington before moving to Texas in 2008. She was lead author of a study in the Journal of Prosthodontics that asked whether the material a denture is made from could be changed so that Candida, the yeast that drives denture stomatitis, finds it harder to take hold. You can read her professional profile on her Altius Dental bio.

That focus on how a denture behaves in a real mouth over years is the same standard Casa Dental brings to denture patients across Dumas and the wider Texas Panhandle.

Why Dentures Are Prone to Infection

Ordinary dentures attract yeast because their surface lacks the natural charge that real teeth carry. The defense proteins in your saliva gather on tooth enamel and help keep microbes in balance, but they do not settle on ordinary denture acrylic the same way.

That leaves the warm, mostly covered space under a denture as easy ground for a yeast called Candida albicans, which forms a sticky film. When that film builds up, the tissue underneath can turn red and sore.

This is denture stomatitis, one of the most common conditions denture wearers face. It is often painless in its early stages, and it tends to return after treatment because the yeast lives on the denture surface, not only in the mouth. Solving that at the source is exactly what the research set out to do.

A Smarter Denture Material

The research tested whether adding a small amount of a charged phosphate component to denture acrylic could make the surface resist yeast. The goal was twofold. Make the surface less inviting to Candida, and make it more welcoming to the mouth\’s natural defense proteins, so the denture behaves a little more like a natural tooth.

The study did not chase yeast resistance at any cost. A denture still has to stay strong, hold its shape, and keep its color for years of daily use.

To weigh that balance, the team compared a standard denture material against two modified versions, one with ten percent of the monomer replaced and one with twenty percent, and ran all three through the laboratory tests every denture material must pass under American Dental Association standards.

What Dr. Gunjan Dhir’s Denture Research Found

At the ten percent level, the modified material stayed within the accepted limits for strength, water absorption, and color, while the twenty percent version fell out of bounds on several measures. In plain terms, a small amount of the charged component kept the denture as strong and stable as it needs to be, while a larger amount weakened it and let it absorb too much water.

The lesson is that the right dose is everything, and more is not better. Across every version, color change was too small for a wearer to notice, and staining did not differ in a meaningful way.

The study was clear that larger clinical trials are still needed before a material like this reaches patients, which is the responsible way to describe promising early research. Read the original research: Physical Properties of Denture Base Resins Potentially Resistant to Candida Adhesion – PubMed.

Denture Care at Casa Dental in Dumas

You do not need to follow the science to benefit from the thinking behind it, because good denture care comes down to fit, cleanliness, and regular checks. At Casa Dental, our team offers a full range of denture options including full and partial dentures, implant retained dentures for a more secure and stable fit, and denture relines and soft liners that keep an existing denture comfortable as your mouth changes.

A denture that has loosened or begun to rub is more than uncomfortable. It creates the exact setting where a poor fit and yeast overgrowth feed each other. Regular exams and timely adjustments protect the tissue underneath and help you avoid the infections the research works to prevent.

A few simple habits make a real difference between visits:

• Take your dentures out overnight when your dentist agrees, so the tissue can rest and the denture can dry, since yeast struggles on a dry surface.
• Clean the denture daily with a denture cleaner and a soft brush, focusing on the fitting surface where film collects.
• Keep your gums, tongue, and the roof of your mouth clean, even with no natural teeth remaining.
• Have soreness, redness, or a change in fit checked early, because denture stomatitis is often painless.

A denture is a living part of your mouth, and both its fit and its cleanliness affect your health. Caring for it well is one of the simplest ways to protect the tissue underneath.

Day to day care at Casa Dental in Dumas is led by Dr. Ali M. Alshabeeb, DMD, guided by the same evidence first standards the group was built on. Casa Dental holds a 4.2 star rating from 275 Google reviews from patients across Dumas and Moore County.

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