Association of oral candidal carriage with dental caries in children.

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.