Occurrence of Candida albicans in infections of endodontic origin

Microorganisms are recognized as the etiological agent for the majority of pulpal and periradicular disease. Although bacteria have been the most stud ied, fungi have also been associated with infected root canals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the contents of infected root canals and asp irates of cellulitis/abscesses of endodontic origin for the presence of Can dida albicans using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), PCR primers specif ic for the 18S ribosomal RNA gene of C. albicans were used to survey 24 sam ples taken from infected root canals and 19 aspirates from periradicular in fections of endodontic origins. The presence of C, albicans was detected in 5 of 24 (21%) samples taken from root canals, but none was detected in the periradicular aspirates. The results indicate that PCR is an extremely sen sitive molecular method that may be used to identify C, albicans directly i n samples from infections of endodontic origin.