[Dental prosthesis--residual alcohol content?].

Abstract

The possible influence of complete or partial dental prosthesis when detecting breath alcohol by means of the breath alcohol analyser "Alcomat" was investigated in a study. During the study, volunteers were asked to rinse their mouths with different types of alcohol such as beer, wine, schnapps and sweets containing alcohol. No influence of the dental prosthesis on the results could be detected. A dental prosthesis neither prolongs the duration of residual alcohol detection, nor does it affect the period of false positive breath alcohol detection. In individual cases the waiting period of 15 minutes between the last alcohol consumption and the breath alcohol test--as legally enforced in Austria--has proved to be too short.