Genotypic distribution of Candida albicans in dental biofilm of Chinese children associated with severe early childhood caries.

Abstract Aim Candida albicans causes a wide range of infections in the oral mucosa, especially candidiasis. A strong association has been found between C. albicans and dental caries. In this study, we investigated the presence and genotypic distribution of C. albicans in the dental biofilm of Chinese children with severe early childhood caries (S-ECC). Design Dental biofilm samples were collected from 41 Chinese children (21 children with S-ECC and 20 children without caries) aged 3–6 years. Samples collected were cultured in CHROMagar Candida (CA) medium. Cellular DNA of typical C. albicans isolates in the CA medium was isolated, and PCR using primers reported to span a transposable intron region in the 25S rRNA gene was performed to determine genotypic subgroups. Results C. albicans was detected in 57.1% of individuals with S-ECC. Additionally, three genotypic subgroups of C. albicans (genotypes A, B, and C) were found in children with S-ECC, and genotype A was dominant. Conclusions C. albicans is an important component of dental biofilm associated with S-ECC, and C. albicans genotypic subgroup A is the dominant strain in the dental biofilm of children with S-ECC.