COLONIZATION OF CANDIDA SPP. IN PATIENTS TREATED WITH PARTIAL DENTURES "THERMOSENS"

Abstract

Introduction. One of the commonly encountered pathologies in the oral cavity when using removable dentures is denture stomatitis, attributed to Candida spp. colonization on the denture surface. Aim. Determination of the type and quantity of Candida spp. on the mucosal and denture surfaces in patients treated with "ThermoSens" partial dentures before and after treatment. Materials and Methods. Thirty patients were prosthetically treated and divided into 2 groups. In the first group (n=20), treatment was performed with "ThermoSens" partial dentures, while in the second (control) group, patients were treated with conventional dentures (n=10). Swabs were taken from the mucosal and denture surfaces. The samples were tested for quantitative and qualitative differentiation of Candida spp. before prosthetic treatment, at the first and third month after prosthetic treatment. The data was statistically processed using SPSS Statistics 26. Results. No statistically significant difference was observed regarding the quantitative accumulation of Candida spp. on the denture and mucosal surfaces between the two groups of patients (p>5%), measured at 1 month and 3 months after prosthetic treatment. It was found that the predominant Candida spp. in both groups of patients was Candida albicans. Conclusion. Although no statistically significant difference was observed in the two test groups regarding the number of colonies of Candida spp., the main group showed a tendency for a more significant increase in their number (up to 105 CFU/ml) on the denture surfaces at the third month after prosthetic treatment, which may be a presumption for the development of denture stomatitis.