Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 21, 2026

Examination of Oral Candida Infection in Primary Sjögren's Syndrome Patients
Published on: March 1, 2024
Effects of eating disorders on oral fungal diversity
Graziella Nuernberg Back-Brito1, Adolfo José da Mota, Luciano Ângelo de Souza Bernardes
1Department of Biosciences and Oral Diagnosis, São José dos Campos Dental School, University Estadual Paulista, São José dos Campos, Brazil. grazinback@yahoo.com.br
Background:
The eating disorders anorexia and bulimia nervosa can cause several systemic and oral alterations related to poor nutrition and induced vomiting; however, the oral microflora of these patients is poorly studied.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to evaluate fungal microflora in the oral cavity of these patients by culture-dependent and culture-independent methods.
Study Design:
Oral rinse samples were cultured to assess the prevalence of Candida species, and the isolates were identified by API system. Microorganism counts were compared by the Mann-Whitney test (5%). Ribotyping, a type of molecular analysis, was performed by sequencing the D1/D2 regions of 28S rRNA.
Results:
Our results demonstrated that the eating disorder group showed higher oral Candida spp. prevalence with culture-dependent methods and higher species diversity with culture-independent methods.
Conclusions:
Eating disorders can lead to an increased oral Candida carriage. Culture-independent identification found greater fungal diversity than culture-dependent methods.
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