A comparative study to assess risk of oral candidiasis in pregnant and nonpregnant women

BACKGROUND: The major hormonal changes observed in pregnant women lead to an imbalance in the oral environment. Hence, recent studies suggest that the placenta may harbor a unique microbiome that may have originated in the maternal oral microbiome. AIM: The present study aimed to assess the risk factor of oral candidiasis in pregnancy and to evaluate the prevalence of Candida species in the oral cavity of pregnant women in all three trimesters. The comparison was also done between pregnant and nonpregnant women to evaluate the cause of the prevalence of candidal species. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty pregnant and thirty nonpregnant women aged between 20 and 30 years were included in the study that were healthy and who did not have any obvious lesion in the oral cavity. The sterile swabs were used to collect samples from the oral cavity from both the groups by brushing the dorsum of the tongue and buccal mucosa. The pregnant women were followed throughout the pregnancy, i.e., in every trimester, for the sample collection. The samples were then cultured on Sabouraud Dextrose Agar media. The positive growth on culture plates was then inoculated on HiCrome agar differential agar media for speciation. RESULTS: Statistical analysis was done by comparing the positive growth in pregnant and nonpregnant women using Fisher's exact test. The pregnant women were compared in three trimesters using the McNemar Chi-square test. CONCLUSION: The study concludes that there was no significant presence of Candidal species when compared between pregnant and nonpregnant groups. The prevalence of Candida species also remained the same.