Association of oral candidal carriage with dental caries in children.
BACKGROUND
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.


OBJECTIVE
This study was carried out to identify association between oral candidal carriage in children and dental caries.


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).


CONCLUSIONS
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.
University of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. drmahwishraja@hotmail.com
M
M
Raja
A
A
Hannan
K
K
Ali
D002175:Candida / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002353:Carrier State / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009055:Mouth / Q000382:microbiology*; D012307:Risk Factors