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Relationship between salivary flow rates and Candida counts in subjects with xerostomia
Sandra R Torres1, Camila Bernardo Peixoto, Daniele Manhães Caldas
1Depatment of Oral Pathology and oral Diagnostic, School of Dentistry, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. s-torres@ig.com.br
Objective:
This study evaluated the relationship between salivary flow and Candida colony counts in the saliva of patients with xerostomia.
Study Design:
Sialometry and Candida colony-forming unit (CFU) counts were taken from 112 subjects who reported xerostomia in a questionnaire. Chewing-stimulated whole saliva was collected and streaked in Candida plates and counted in 72 hours. Species identification was accomplished under standard methods.
Results:
There was a significant inverse relationship between salivary flow and Candida CFU counts (P =.007) when subjects with high colony counts were analyzed (cutoff point of 400 or greater CFU/mL). In addition, the median sialometry of men was significantly greater than that of women (P =.003), even after controlling for confounding variables like underlying disease and medications. Sjögren's syndrome was associated with low salivary flow rate (P =.007). There was no relationship between the median Candida CFU counts and gender or age. There was a high frequency (28%) of mixed colonization. Candida albicans was the most frequent species, followed by C parapsilosis, C tropicalis, and C krusei.
Conclusions:
In subjects with high Candida CFU counts there was an inverse relationship between salivary flow and Candida CFU counts.