Candidal Species Identification in Malignant and Potentially Malignant Oral Lesions with Antifungal Resistance Patterns

Objective: Candidal species identification in malignant and potentially malignant oral lesions with antifungal susceptibility. Materials and Methods: Oral candidal carriage, strain diversity, and antifungal susceptibility of Candida were checked for the patients having oral cancer or precancer reporting to the clinics for 1 1/2 year. Statistically significant patients were selected and a control group was taken. A total of 105 individuals were selected and divided into three different groups. Salivary samples were taken from all the individuals. Candida detection was done using Sabouraud's agar and candidal species detection on CHROMagar. In vitro antifungal sensitivity was done using antifungal disc diffusion method. Results: Candida was isolated from 88.6% of patients with oral cancer and 45.7% in oral precancerous group. C. albicans was the predominant species found in 100% of oral precancerous and 71% in oral cancerous patients. Other Candida species found were C. tropicalis (9.7%) and C. krusei (19.6%). Antifungal susceptibility showed 4.3% sensitivity to fluconazole and 100% sensitivity to amphotericin B and nystatin. Conclusion: Oral Candida carriage was higher in oral cancerous group and majority of them were sensitive to amphotericin B and nystatin.