288 - Prevalence of Candida Albicans in Pediatric Patients' Dental Biofilm

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of C. albicans in dental biofilm samples collected from 165 pediatric patients with and without caries that attended Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán.

Methods: Children from 1–5 years old, who haven’t received antibiotic therapy within the last 3 months were included. Biofilm samples were collected from the first primary molars using a sterilized swab and were cultivated on Sabouraud Dextrose Agar plates at 37°C for 48 hours. Selected colonies were cultivated in CHROMagar Candida for C. albicans presumptive identification, and the species confirmation was determined by polymerase chain reaction technique using specific oligonucleotides for C. albicans.

Results: Prevalence for C. albicans in children with caries was 25% and without caries 4%. The association between C. albicans and caries was analyzed by chi-squared test (P=.001) and odds ratio (OR=5.04).

Conclusions:   An association between C. albicans and caries was observed, where the presence of C. albicans increases 5 times the probability of developing caries.

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