Abstract:

Oral candidiasis is a frequently encountered fungal infection of the oral cavity. Its etiology is multifactorial, attributable to the disparity in the microorganisms inhabiting the oral cavity. Probiotics are live microorganisms that can have antagonistic effects on other pathogens. The benefits of probiotics in the management of gastrointestinal disorders are well known. Probiotics have been tried as a newer treatment option for managing oral candidal infections. Therefore, the present review attempts to summarize the significant data available from clinical trials about the efficacy of probiotics on oral candidal infections. A computerized search in PubMed and the Cochrane Library was conducted using the terms Candidosis (OR) Candidiasis (OR) oral Candida (AND) probiotics, to identify randomized controlled trials published from 2010 to April 2020. We identified forty-six articles and six of them fulfilled the inclusion criteria for this review. The studies have assessed the role of probiotics in oral Candida by measuring the candidal counts in samples from various intraoral sites, the clinical cure rate, or both. The probiotics used in most studies were of Lactobacillus species and Streptococcus salivarius. This review concludes that probiotics have preventive and curative effects on oral candidal infections, but the efficacy depends on the dosage, duration, and type of the probiotic strains.

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