The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between salivary flow and candida carriage. This study measured the unstimulated (resting) whole saliva flow rate (UWS) and stimulated whole saliva flow rate (SWS), and investigates their influence on the candida colonization. The relationship between candida carriage and onset of signs on the oral mucosa was also investigated. A total of 2,678 subjects (male: female = 446 : 2,232, mean age of 66.8) who visited the Dry Mouth Clinic at Tsurumi University Dental Hospital with a complaint of dry mouth were recruited for this study.
One thousand five hundred forty-eight patients (57.8%) carried candida. The highest CFU was observed in patients with Sjögren's syndrome (Group I), and followed by non-Sjögren's syndrome patients with decreased UWS and SWS (Group II), patients with only decreased UWS (Group III), patients with only decreased SWS (Group IV), and a group with UWS and SWS within the normal limit. (Group V). The results suggested that hyposalivation is risk factor in an increase of candida CFU, especially in Sjögren's syndrome patients. Unstimulated saliva flow may therefore contribute more to an increase of candida CFU than SWS, because there were more candida colonies in Group III than Group IV.
The occurrence of signs of erythematous candidiasis such as atrophy of lingual papilla, redness of oral mucosa is significantly higher in patients who detected candida in their mouth than those that did not. The study suggested that an increase of candida CFU due to hyposalivation led to the onset of oral candidiasis.
