The Association between Smoking Habits and Candida in the Oral Cavity

The current study examined the effect of smoking habits on the presence of candida in the oral cavity. The study group included 50 healthy smokers (age range 20-50 years, mean 26.78 years, median 25 years and SD ± 6.9). As reference we examined a group of 50 healthy nonsmokers with similar form of age and gender. This study was the first to use the Diaslide device, which was modified to provide a quantitative assessment of candidal colonies. Of all the parameters which evaluated the influence of smoking on candida, the number of colonies in saliva was the only one that was significantly higher in smokers compared to non-smokers (p=0.037). The current study had demonstrated that smoking appears to have a minor influence on candidal colony growth, compared to other known factors such as dry mouth, immunodeficiency disorders or antibiotic treatment. It is recommended that the study will be repeated with participants of different combinations of age and smoking habits, and possibly research differences between varied candida species in association with tobacco smoking in the oral cavity.