Evaluating the Antifungal Efficacy of Incorporating KappaCarrageenan Powder Into “Heat-Cured, Acrylic-Based Soft Denture Lining Material

Abstract

Denture stomatitis is one of the serious problems that are related to the continuous use of soft lining material due to the accumulation of microorganisms. It is caused mainly by fungal growth, especially of Candida albicans. It, therefore, becomes necessary to examine the effectiveness of incorporating an antifungal drug into the soft lining material. This study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of adding the kappa-carrageenan powder to heat-cured, acrylic-based soft lining material against Candida albicans adherence. A pilot study was performed to decide the best concentration of kappa-carrageenan to be used with the heatcured, acrylic-based soft liner. Five percentages by weight of kappa-carrageenan powder (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5wt.%) were evaluated and compared with the control group (0wt.%). The Candida albicans adherence test was performed to assess the efficacy of kappa-carrageenan powder in preventing the adherence of Candida albicans. Results showed the 1.5wt.% and 2wt.% groups as having the best effect. The main study included preparing thirty samples and dividing them into three groups based on the percentage of powder of kappa-carrageenan added to the heat-cured acrylic-based soft lining material (control: 0wt.%; experimental: 1.5wt.% and 2wt.%). The purpose of performing Candida albicans adherence test was to evaluate the antifungal efficacy of kappa-carrageenan powder addition, and all the resulted data were analysed using “one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Dunnet T3 post-hoc test at a significance level of p<0.05”. The results of Candida albicans adherence test revealed a highly significant decrease in the values of the adhered Candida albicans cells after incorporation of 1.5wt.% and 2wt.% of kappa-carrageenan powder when compared to the control group (p<0.01). The result of this study suggests that the addition of kappa-carrageenan powder is an effective drug against Candida albicans adherence on the surface of the heat-cured acrylic-based soft lining material, and the addition of 2wt.% is more effective than 1.5wt.%.