The extent of oral fungal flora in 353 students and possible relationshipswith dental caries

An epidemiological study was conducted on 353 students to determine the pot ential relationships between oral saprophytism with Candida albicans and de ntal status. For each student included, an interview, a dental examination, a mycological investigation and determination of oral pH were conducted. V arious factors liable to affect the presence of oral fungus were investigat ed un-sing the chi (2) test. 58.6% of samples were positive when cultured, with C. albicans in 93.7% of cases. The mean DMF index was 7.6. C. albicans was more frequently isolated in men, smokers, when pH was lower than 7, wh en dental plaque was abundant and when the time since the teeth had last be en brushed was more than 8 h. DMF and F indexes were greater when C. albica ns was present but not when it was abundant, while decay was more often pre sent in subjects with abundant C. albicans. Although the specific role of t he various factors is difficult to establish, the results suggest that furt her research to elucidate the possible role of C. albicans in caries aetiol ogy would be valuable. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.