Relationship of Candida to Oral Factors in Complete Denture Wearers

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine if there was any association between levels of candida species with smoking status, clinical appearance, use of adhesive and the levels of vitamin A in patients wearing maxillary complete dentures for more than one year. Methods: Fifty patients were randomly selected from the recall pool at a dental college who did not have any history of receiving antifungal therapy, antibiotics, steroids, immunosuppressive medications in the past 3-months or who had treatment for cancer, had received transplants, or were otherwise immunocompromised. Patients were examined clinically, photographs taken of the edentulous palate, and saliva was cultured for candida species. CHROMagar Candida selective medium was used for isolation and differentiation of Candida albicans (CA), tropicalis and krusei expressing results as colony forming units per ml (CFU). CA cultures exceeding 100 CFU were considered pathological levels. In addition, serum levels of vitamin A were determined. Results: On examination palatal redness was found in 18% of the patients and was significantly associated with CA (chi-square, p=.039); the use of denture adhesive was found in 40% of patients and was significantly associated with CA (chi-square, p=.014); and smokers (34%) were significantly associated with candida tropicalis (chi-square, p=.042). The smokers were significantly younger than non-smokers (chi-square, p=.002). Levels of vitamin A and candida were not found to be statistically significant. Conclusions: These findings support previous associations of candida species with redness, denture adhesive and smoking. Low levels of vitamin A do not appear to be related to candida levels; however, more studies are necessary. This work was supported by a grant from Baylor College of Dentistry.