The relation of Candida growth in the development of “leukoplakia ”

Abstract EN

Background : Many predisposing factors affect the onset of leukoplakia.

This study evaluates the relation of the candida infections for the development of leukoplakia in relation to gender, age, and smoking habit.

Patients and Methods : Fifty three patients of average age from (40-70) years of old, were complaining from leukoplakia in their oral mucosa, in the period of (January 1999-Nov 2000), and the same number of healthy individuals were used as control group.

Swabs were taken immediately from the leukoplakia lesion and from the same site of the normal mucosa of the healthy individuals, and send for microbiological study.

Results : The majority cases of leukoplakia 37 (70 %) have (+Ve) growth of candida growth of pathogenic type in compare to 8 (15 %) of normal individuals from the same region of the oral mucosa which have (+Ve) growth of candida but of nonpathogenic type, and the most common were Candida albinos 28 (75 %) from the whole sample.

The candida growth were significantly higher in the leukoplakia lesion in those of heavily smokers 35 (66 %), particularly in the retro molar area, as well as hard palate, tongue, mandibular lip, and cheek.

The study also reported that the smoking habit act as a main factor for alteration of oral epithelium for proliferation by enhancement of candida growth to produce their mycelium and toxins that lead to development of leukoplakia.

Conclusions : The study shows that the majority cases of leukoplakia are caused by candida growth of pathogenic type, mainly Candida albinos which are more obviously detected in the smokers, old age, but there is no relation to their gender.