Prevalence of yeast other than Candida albicans in denture wearers

The isolation of yeast species other than Candida albicans from the oral mucosa has been increasing in frequency, suggesting that those may constitute emerging potential oral colonizers. The purpose of this work was to determine whether yeast species other than C. albicans are associated with factors related to wearing of dental prostheses.

tRNA-PCR fingerprinting and sequencing of the 26S rDNA D1/D2 domain were used to identify all yeasts isolated from CHROMagar™ Candida cultures of oral swabs collected from 178 patients.

Besides C. albicans, 13 other species were identified, corresponding to 34% of the yeast isolates. The majority of the non-C. albicans species were not detected as single colonizers but rather in co-colonization with one or two other yeasts, often with C. albicans. No significant associations were found with non-C. albicans species. On the contrary, the best-fitted logistic regression model predicts that either wearing a denture (adjusted odds = 4.6) or insufficient oral hygiene (adjusted odds = 2.3) are risks for colonization by yeast, in general.

The colonization with non-C. albicans species and co-colonization were not independently associated with any of the analyzed host-related factors. In particular, neither wearing a removable denture nor being elderly were significant predictors.