This study was designed to investigate the potential factors that influence the prevalence of the oral carriage of Candida species in patients with type II diabetes mellitus. One hundred and twenty-eight diabetic patients (68 males and 60 females, mean age 54 +/- 7 years) were sequentially enrolled along with 84 (44 males and 40 females mean age 52 +/- 8 years) healthy subjects. Samples were obtained by swabbing the oral mucosa of all participants. Yeast isolates were identified by germ tube test, with API 32 ID system, and by chlamydospore production on 'cornmeal' Tween-80 agar. Candida spp. was recovered from the oral cavity of 64% of the diabetic group, in contrast to 40% of the control group. Candida albicans was the most frequently isolated species in both groups. Potential etiologic factors such as xerostomia, dentures, age, gender and diabetes on oral carriage of Candida spp. were evaluated. The oral carriage of Candida spp. was significantly higher in 'diabetic' patients compared with the healthy subjects but it seems that parameters such as xerostomia, dentures, age, gender and glycemic control cannot be directly associated with Candida growth in the oral cavity in the presence of diabetes.

Oral pseudomembranous candidiasis and mucositis were assessed in 39 patients receiving a total dose of 39-70 Gy radiotherapy for head and neck cancer. Mucositis was scored using the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group criteria, and oral candidiasis was diagnosed on the basis of clinical evaluation and quantitative laboratory findings. Radiation-induced mucositis was observed in 9/39 patients. Only 3/39 patients discontinued radiotherapy due to acute severe mucosal effects. Candidiasis (colony-forming units 35 to > or = 60/lesion) associated with mucositis was diagnosed in 30/39 patients: the most frequent aetiology of the infection was Candida albicans (n = 23), followed by Candida glabrata (n = 3), Candida krusei (n = 2), Candida tropicalis (n = 1) and Candida kefyr (n = 1). Patients with confirmed oral pseudomembranous candidiasis were treated with either fluconazole 200 mg/day or itraconazole 200 mg/day for 2 weeks. Clinical improvement and concomitant negative Candida cultures (mycologic cure) were the criteria determining a response to antifungal treatment. Etest revealed very low voriconazole MICs (0.004-0.125 microg/ml) for all isolates, and fluconazole resistance for eight C. albicans strains (MIC > 64 microg/ml) and for the C. krusei isolates (MIC > 32 microg/ml). The same strains showed itraconazole susceptibility dose dependence (MIC 0.5 microg/ml). Despite the itraconazole susceptible dose dependent MIC readings, all patients with oral pseudomembranous candidiasis caused by these strains responded to antifungal treatment with 200 mg/day itraconazole. Oral mycologic surveillance of patients undergoing radiotherapy for head and neck malignancies and susceptibility testing of isolates may be indicated in cases with mucositis-associated confirmed oral pseudomembranous candidiasis to ensure prompt administration of targeted antifungal treatment. On the basis of the low MIC values found, clinical evaluation of voriconazole is indicated for management of oral pseudomembranous candidiasis refractory to other azoles.

Findings in this sample suggest that changes in salivary composition may, together with estimated glucose levels, play a helpful diagnostic role in the early stages of IDDM in some children.

The results of this study demonstrated a relatively high incidence of PV in northern Greece compared with that in other countries. The disease most frequently occurred in the sixth decade-of-life and the majority of the patients manifested oral lesions. Further epidemiological studies are needed to elucidate whether this region is constituted from population groups with high susceptibility to PV.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of the present study was to determine the prevalence of oral lichen planus (OLP) in a population of patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) as compared with a control population. DESIGN: A clinicopathologic study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: One hundred and thirty‐nine patients with type I DM, 353 patients with type II DM and 274 controls were examined for clinical evidence of OLP. The clinical evidence of OLP in the diabetic and control patients was confirmed by histopathological examination. RESULTS: The prevalence of OLP in type I diabetic patients was 5.76%, in type II 2.83%, and 1.82% in the controls. The prevalence of OLP was significantly higher in patients with type I DM and slightly higher in patients with type II DM in comparison to the prevalence in the control sample. CONCLUSIONS: The above findings and the fact that type I diabetes and OLP are characterized by autoimmune phenomena and T cell immune responses respectively, suggest that the immune system may play a critical role in the appearance of OLP in patients with type I DM.

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Although there is much literature on the detection of pemphigus and pemphigoid autoantibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in serum, nothing is known about their presence in saliva. The aim of this study was to evaluate the salivary levels of these autoantibodies in pemphigus and pemphigoid patients. Autoantibodies against desmoglein3, desmoglein1, and BP180 were assayed, by ELISA, in serum and saliva samples of patients and healthy controls. The titres of autoantibodies against Dsg1/3 found in both serum and saliva of pemphigus patients showed a statistically significant correlation, suggesting that saliva may be a useful biological material for diagnostic purposes, in monitoring disease activity, as well as for the early detection of relapses. By contrast, the titres of autoantibodies against BP180 in the serum and saliva of bullous pemphigoid patients were not statistically related, and further study of the usefulness of the BP180 ELISA for saliva in this disease is needed. In addition, based on our results, the BP180 ELISA with a recombinant NC16a epitope failed to detect the autoantibodies against BP180 in the serum and saliva of mucous membrane pemphigoid patients.

Although cases of odontomas have already been described and angiofibromas are a quite common extraoral finding, to our knowledge this is the first case of intraoral evaluation of both extranasopharyngeal juvenile angiofibroma and maxillary compound odontoma in ECCL syndrome.