The purpose of this study is to analyze the distribution of Candida species in patients with oral disease and clarify the distinction of Candida culture test according to its isolation technique. 75 samples was isolated from 42 patients who visited Chonnam National University Dental Hospital due to oral disease from December 2015 to August 2016. For isolating the candida sampling, saliva sampling and oral swabbing were used. Acquired sampling was cultured in CHROMagar Candida Culture Medium, which indicates the candida species as color. Of the 42 patients, C. albicans was the most frequently isolated species in 39 patients. For 17 patients out of 21 who underwent saliva sampling and oral swabbing simultaneously, oral swabbing was quantitatively underestimated comparing to saliva sampling. 12 samples in 21 samples having particular Candida species were not isolated by oral swabbing. Considering the possibility of fungal infection in various oral disease, it is recommended to perform not only oral swabbing but saliva sampling when isolating Candida.

Candida albicans and their associated Candida species are opportunistic pathogens which exists as normal flora in the oral cavities of healthy individuals. In response to physiological changes in the host, these yeasts can become pathogenic, resulting in oral candidiasis. The rapid detection and identification of Candida species in clinical laboratories are extremely important for the management of patients with hematogenous candidiasis. The presently available culture and biochemical methods for detection and species identification of Candida are time-consuming and lack the required sensitivity and specificity. In this study, we have established a seminested PCR (snPCR) using universal and species-specific primers for detection of Candida species in saliva. The universal outer primers amplified the 3end of 5.8S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and the 5end of 28S rDNA, including the internally transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2), generating 350- to 410-bp fragments from the four commonly encountered Candida spp., viz., C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. glabrata, and C. parapsilosis. The saliva from 331 healthy and, over 50 years of aged people lived in Dong-gu, Gwangu city, was collected. Total DNA were extracted by Hoffman-Winston yeast total DNA prep. method and performed t he s nP CR. R esults appeared to b e negative on 292 people ( 88.2%), however, 2 6 people ( 7.9%) were p ositive Candida albicans, 6 people (1.8%) were positive Candida glabrata, 5 people (1.5%) were positive Candida tropicalis, and only 2 person (0.6%) were positive Candida parapsilosis. These result showed that detection and identification of Candida species could be established by saliva analysis, so that snPCR on saliva is useful method of diagnosis of clinical fields