THE PREVENTIVE EFFECT OF PROBIOTICS CONCERNING NEW DENTURE WEARERS IN ORAL CANDIDIASIS (CLINICAL TRIAL)

Introduction: The most common therapeutic strategy for oral candidiasis is using antifungal agents, Unfortunately, the prolonged administration of antifungals has many adverse effects. There is an increasing demand for a potent antifungal agent against oral candidiasis (OC) with the least adverse effect and low recurrence rate.Objectives: To evaluate the preventive effect of a daily dose of commercial probiotics on the oral Candida spp. colonization in new denture wearers during probiotics administration and 4 weeks after the end of probiotics intake.Material and Methods: The current clinical trial included 48 new complete denture wearers with detectable levels of Candida but without clinical symptoms. Participants in the probiotics group received a daily dose of probiotics lozenges for eight weeks versus the placebo tablets taken by the participants in the placebo group. Microbiological mouth-rinse samples determined the Candida count at different time intervals: baseline, two weeks after denture delivery, after 4 and 8 weeks of intervention, and four weeks post-intervention follow-up. Results: Probiotics significantly reduced Candida count compared to placebo in the fourth week and subsequent follow-up periods. In the eighth week, they had the highest decrease (p < 0.0001).Conclusion: Probiotic lozenges were highly effective against fungal infections in new denture wearers, with short-term preventive effects even after intervention cessation.