Comparison of oral mycobiota diversity among healthy removable acrylic denture wearers and nondenture wearers: An exploratory pilot study

AIM: The aim of this study was to compare the oral mycobiota diversity among healthy removable acrylic denture wearers and nondenture wearers by next-generation sequencing technique. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This was an in vivo cross-sectional analytical pilot study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A study with 12 participants aged 40-60 years analyzed DNA from saliva samples using ITS amplicon sequencing. Next-generation sequencing data compared mycobiota composition, alpha diversity, and beta diversity between denture wearers and nondenture wearers with statistical analyses. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Alpha diversity was assessed using Shannon, Simpson, and operational taxonomic unit counts, with analysis of variance tests for statistical significance. Beta diversity was evaluated using Bray-Curtis distances, principal component analysis, and PCoA for community visualization. Permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) and analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) tested beta diversity differences using the vegan package in R. RESULTS: The oral mycobiota showed greater richness and diversity in nondenture wearers than denture wearers, with distinct community composition. Alpha diversity was significantly higher in nondenture wearers (P = 0.043). Beta diversity revealed clear group clustering (PERMANOVA: F = 4.3394, P = 0.005), and ANOSIM confirmed significant compositional differences (R = 0.6587, P = 0.001). Permutational analysis of multivariate dispersions showed no significant difference in dispersion (F = 0.454, P = 0.489), indicating homogeneity between the groups. CONCLUSION: This study shows that dentures alter oral fungal composition, with differences in the Ascomycota-Basidiomycota ratio between wearers and nonwearers. Denture wearers showed higher Aspergillus, Alternaria, Candida, Clonostachys, and Malassezia, while nonwearers had greater overall diversity. These findings suggest potential fungal indicators of denture wearers, requiring further validation.