Method: Oral rinse samples were collected from 203 patients attending the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne and analysed for the presence, degree of colonisation, and pattern of Candidal species, phenotypically identified as albicans and non-albicans species.
Result: Candidal carriage was found in 98/203 patients (48.3%) and of these, 83 (84.7%) patients carried C. albicans. There was no statistical difference when comparing gender, age, or presence of a removable prostheses. Significant variation was found in the prevalence and degree of Candida colonisation in patients who were current or past smokers, and patients with active carious lesions were found to be 3 times more likely to carry Candida than those with no active carious lesions.
Conclusion: These results indicate the degree of variation in oral yeast carriage that exists in asymptomatic, non-oral cancer patients and indicates a potential correlation between smoking, caries and oral yeast colonisation.