Oral Candida carriage among individuals chewing betel-quid with and without tobacco

Abstract

We thank Pratyush Singh et al. for their interest in our publication entitled “Oral Candida carriage among individuals chewing betel-quid with and without tobacco.” We are pleased to remind that the duration of betel-quid (BQ) chewing (with and without tobacco) was mentioned in Table I. Regarding the second query by Pratyush Singh et al., we are pleased to inform them that the present study aimed to assess oral Candida carriage among individuals chewing BQ with and without tobacco. Had influence of gender been the “focus” of our study, we would have been pleased to build a convenience sample for our study. Therefore, additional studies are needed to assess the effect of gender among individuals chewing BQ with and without tobacco. It is known that a dry oral environment facilitates oral Candida carriage.1Artico G. Freitas R.S. Santos Filho A.M. Benard G. Romiti R. Migliari D.A. Prevalence of Candida spp., xerostomia, and hyposalivation in oral lichen planus—a controlled study.Oral Dis. 2014; 20: e36-e41Crossref PubMed Scopus (23) Google Scholar Since a compromised salivary flow among BQ chewers and controls could have influenced oral Candida carriage, we measured unstimulated whole salivary flow rates among the groups. In order to prevent exogenous contamination of agar plates, gas-permeable tape was used to secure the plates to avoid moisture loss and to protect personnel from potential exposure to pathogenic molds.2Isenberg H.D. 2nd ed. Clinical Microbiology Procedures Handbook. Vol. 2. ASM Press, Washington, DC2004Google Scholar Chloramphenicol was added to the medium to prevent contamination by microbes, such as Actinomyces. All specimens were processed under a laminar flow hood.Table ICharacteristics of the study cohortAll betel-quid chewersIndividuals chewing betel-quid with tobaccoIndividuals chewing betel-quid without tobaccoControlsNumber of individuals1035251100Gender92 male45 male47 male88 maleMean age in years (range)37.2 (31-42)40.7 (33-42)35.4 (31-38)36.2 (30-40)Mean duration of betel-quid chewing habit in years (range)10.5 (3-15)11.1 (4-15)8.5 (3-12)—Mean numbers of betel-quids consumed daily (range)4.3 (1-6)5.4 (2-6)2.5 (1-4)—Mean duration of placement of betel-quid in the mouth in minutes (range)16.4 (5-30)23.6∗P < .05. (10-30)8.2∗ (5-10)—Daily oral hygiene maintenance Tooth brushing (once daily) (%)61 (59.2%)29 (55.7%)32 (62.7%)58 (58%) Tooth brushing (twice daily) (%)42 (40.8%)23 (44.3%)19 (37.3%)42 (42%) Tongue brushing after tooth brushing (%)14 (13.5%)6 (11.5%)8 (15.6)13 (12%) Rinsing the mouth with water after betel-quid consumption (%)73 (70.9%)33 (63.5%)39 (76.5%)—∗ P < .05. Open table in a new tab Oral Candida carriage among individuals chewing betel-quid with and without tobacco: an observationOral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology and Oral RadiologyVol. 119Issue 6PreviewThe study by Javed et al. was aimed at assessing oral Candida carriage and comparing the prevalence of different Candida species present among individuals chewing betel-quid with and without tobacco use.1 It is an interesting and unique study that gives us significant data on Candida speciation among the patients.1 Full-Text PDF