Factors Influence Adhesion of Candida Albicans on the Denture Surfaces

Objective: Candida albicans was the most common yeast species found in denture plaque of patients with denture stomatitis. The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the relationship between factors that may influence adhesion of Candida albicans on denture surface, such as denture surface roughness, separating fluid used in denture processing and human saliva. Materials and methods: 200 pieces of heat-cured acrylic resin (Luciton 199), 20x50x2mm in size, were fabricated by standard procedure. Samples were randomly assigned into 8 groups which were treated with three different factors (separating fluid/ polishing/ saliva). The surface roughness parameters (Ra) of resin plate were measured by Surftest4 before the study. Saliva was obtained from 5 healthy subjects. After cleaning and disinfection, all samples were immersed in culture media contained with Candida albicans SC5314. By imprinted technique on Saboraud Dextrose Agar, colonies on the agar were counted after 18 hours incubation. The result was then analyzed by multiple regression analysis.

Result: The results showed that surface roughness in our study was not a significant factor influencing the Candida albicans adhesion on denture surface (P=0.562). Using separating fluid during acrylic resin processing was a significant factor which increased Candida adhesion on the denture surface (P=0.008). Human saliva was also showed to be a significant factor but decreased Candida adhesion on denture surfaces (P=0.001).

Conclusion: It was concluded that denture separating fluid and human saliva showed significant influences on Candida adhesion. However, the former showed positive effect and the later showed negative influence in our study. (This study was partly supported by the grant of National Taiwan University Hospital NTUH 92-S042)