Association of Oral Candidal Carriage with Dental Caries in Children

Abstract

Introduction: Oral candidiasis is one of the most common opportunistic oral fungal infections. Oral candidal carriage in schoolchildren is a subject of increasing interest worldwide and has recently been associated with increased caries incidence in children. Aims: This study was carried out to identify association between oral candidal carriage in children and dental caries. Subjects and Methods: One hundred subjects with an age range between 6 and 12 years were included in this study. The subjects were distributed equally into two groups, i.e., study (caries-positive) and control (caries-free) groups. Oral hygiene index and DMFT/dmft scores were recorded for each subject. Sampling for Candida was carried out using intraoral swabs and concentrated oral rinse. Sabouraud dextrose agar containing 0.1 mg/ml of chloramphenicol was used as the primary culture medium. Candida was identified by employing API-20C AUX and germ tube formation tests. Results: The subjects in the caries-positive group showed a high frequency of oral candidal carriage compared to the caries-free subjects and the results were statistically very significant (p < 0.01). The odds ratio was 67.37, implying a high caries risk with positive oral candidal carriage (95% CI 14–323). Discussion: The findings of this study underscore the possible association of Candida with dental caries. Conclusions: The occurrence of dental caries in children with mixed dentition is positively correlated with the frequency of oral candidal carriage.

Fungi at the Scene of the Crime: Innocent Bystanders or Accomplices in Oral Infections?

“…An organism of interest in this context is C. albicans, a yeast frequently isolated from patients with caries. Studies have identified a higher incidence rate of C. albicans in children with caries compared to caries-free children [51,52]. A recent systematic review by Xiao and co-workers (2018) indeed confirmed this co-isolation, stating that children with oral C. albicans colonisation, can be > 5 times more likely to develop early childhood caries (ECC) [53•].…”

Cross-feeding and interkingdom communication in dual-species biofilms of Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans

“…albicans and S. mutans are found together in early childhood caries (Marchant et al, 2001;de Carvalho et al, 2006;Raja et al, 2010) and on bracket materials (Rammohan et al, 2012). Early childhood caries is a very aggressive form of caries.…”

“…Early childhood caries is a very aggressive form of caries. It has been shown that C, albicans is present in 96% of caries-positive children (age group 6-12 years) but only in 24% of caries-free children (Raja et al, 2010). Denture plaque was shown to contain both S. mutans and C. albicans in 25.5% of healthy individuals (Ribeiro, 2012).…”

Effects of Cinnamaldehyde, Ocimene, Camphene, Curcumin and Farnesene on &lt;i&gt;Candida albicans&lt;/i&gt;

“…[1] [2]. Candida albicans is one of the most important opportunistic fungal pathogens responsible for superficial mucocutaneous infections of non-genital (Oropharyngeal) and genital (VVC, balanitis and balanoposthitis and candiduria) tracts of healthy individuals to life threatening, invasive infections in immunocompromised patients [1]- [3].…”

“…Candida albicans is one of the most important opportunistic fungal pathogens responsible for superficial mucocutaneous infections of non-genital (Oropharyngeal) and genital (VVC, balanitis and balanoposthitis and candiduria) tracts of healthy individuals to life threatening, invasive infections in immunocompromised patients [1]- [3]. Oral candidiasis may be of pseudomembranous, hyperplastic, erythematous, angular cheilitis and Denture stomatitis type [2] [3]. It was also reported to be associated with caries in children and dental loss [1]- [3].…”