Elsevier

Dental Abstracts

Volume 62, Issue 1, January–February 2017, Pages 52-53
Dental Abstracts

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Candida presence in asymptomatic persons

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.denabs.2016.09.042Get rights and content

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Background

Oral cancer has a low survival rate related to the late symptomatic presentation typical of this disorder. The risk of head and neck cancer is increased by tobacco use, heavy alcohol consumption, viral infections, poor oral hygiene, and Candida infection. Candida is the most common yeast isolated from the mouth and is carried commensally by up to 70% of healthy persons. How Candida contributes to carcinogenesis is as yet unknown, but it is known that Candida thrives in environments that are

Methods

The 203 patients ranged in age from 17 to 88 years (median 55 years) and had come for general and specialist dental clinic appointments at the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne. None of the participants had HIV or human papillomavirus (HPV) infections or had undergone antifungal therapy recently. All contributed oral rinse specimens that were analyzed for the presence and degree of colonization of yeast species. These were identified as Candida albicans or non-albicans species.

Results

Ninety-eight (48.3%) of the participants had a positive culture for Candida, with 46.9% having a load of less than 100 colony-forming units (CFU)/mL, 39.8% a moderate load of 100 to 1000 CFU/mL, and 13.3% oral loads exceeding 1000 CFU/mL. The most common strain was C albicans, present in 72.4% of the Candida carriers. Mixed C albicans and C krusei were carried by 11.2% of the sample, and all non-albicans species were present in 16.3%.

The risk factors analyzed for associations with Candida

Discussion

Both smoking and active carious lesions were positively related to the presence of oral Candida. Current smokers had the highest risk, seven times greater than that of never-smokers or past smokers.

Clinical Significance

This survey indicates not only that a large number of healthy individuals carry Candida in their oral cavities, but that smoking and active caries are associated with a higher risk for Candida colonization. Dental practitioners will deal with asymptomatic patients who have Candida

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Mun MSS, Yap T, Alnuaimi AD, et al: Oral candida carriage in asymptomatic patients. Austral Dent J 61:190-195, 2016

Reprints available from M McCullough, Dept of Oral Anatomy, Medicine and Surgery, Melbourne Dental School, The Univ of Melbourne, 720 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3010, Australia; e-mail: [email protected]

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