Persistence of oral Candida albicans carriage in healthy Portuguese schoolchildren followed for 3 years

Little is known about carriage of Candida albicans, the predominant pathogenic yeast in oral infection, in children. We cultured buccal mucosal and gingival swabs from 150 Portuguese children to investigate the prevalence of C. albicans at baseline (before dental treatment), post-treatment, and 12, 24, and 36 months post-baseline. The children, aged 8 to 11 years at baseline, had no systemic disease or clinical symptoms of oral candidiasis. At each successive visit, respectively, 47, 32, 21, 27, and 28% of children were C. albicans positive, resulting in an almost 50% reduction in prevalence from baseline to post-treatment (P < 0.0005). Children who carried C. albicans at one visit had 3 to 20 times greater odds of carrying C. albicans at another visit. C. albicans was cultured from 12 children at all time-points and from 10 children at four time-points. Children with oral C. albicans frequently maintained carriage over time, even with regular dental care.