title: Prevalence of Candida albicans and Candida dubliniensis in caries-free and caries-active children in relation to the oral microbiota-a clinical study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The correlation between caries and the oral prevalence of Candida spp. in children is contradictory in literature. Thereby, authors focused on Candida albicans as the most isolated Candida species from the oral cavity. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to compare caries-free and caries-bearing children regarding their oral carriage of Candida spp.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-six caries-free (CF group) and 26 caries-active children (CA group) were included into this study. Three different types of specimens were assessed, saliva and plaque, and in the case of caries, infected dentine samples were microbiologically analyzed for aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms and their counts. Special attention was given to the differentiation between C. albicans and Candida dubliniensis. Additionally, different biochemical tests, VITEK 2 (VITEK®2, bioMérieux, Marcy-l'Etoile, France) and 16S and 18S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequencing, were applied for identification.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The detection of C. albicans did not differ between the CF and CA groups. C. dubliniensis was never detected in any specimen of the CF group, but occurred in one quarter of the CA group (27 % in plaque, 23 % in saliva), thus leading to a statistically significant difference between the two groups (p < 0.05). In six of these cases, C. dubliniensis was detected concomitantly in saliva and plaque and once only in plaque. CA group harbored statistically more Streptococcus mutans than the control group revealing a correlation between S. mutans and C. dubliniensis regarding the caries group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study reporting a frequent detection of C. dubliniensis in caries-active children, which could have been underestimated so far due to difficulties in differentiation between this yeast species and C. albicans.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Microbiological diagnostic-especially of oral Candida species-is an important determinant for identifying etiological factors of dental caries in children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Operative Dentistry and Periodontology, Center for Dental Medicine, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al-Ahmad
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontology, Philipps-University, Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Auschill
authors.affiliation: Department of Operative Dentistry and Periodontology, Center for Dental Medicine, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dakhel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wittmer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pelz
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Heumann
authors.affiliation: Department of Operative Dentistry and Periodontology, Center for Dental Medicine, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hellwig
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontology, Philipps-University, Marburg, Germany. arweiler@med.uni-marburg.de.
authors.forename: N B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Arweiler
mesh_terms: D002175:Candida / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002176:Candida albicans; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000382:microbiology*; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D064307:Microbiota; D009055:Mouth / Q000382:microbiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012463:Saliva / Q000382:microbiology
keywords: Candida spp.; Caries-free and caries-active children; Differentiation; Prevalence