Candida albicans Carriage in Children with Severe Early Childhood Caries (S-ECC) and Maternal Relatedness

Candida albicans has been detected together with Streptococcus mutans in high numbers in plaque-biofilm from children with early childhood caries (ECC).Our results reveal that both the child with S-ECC (severe early childhood caries) and the mother were highly infected with C. albicans, while most of the strains were genetically related, suggesting that the mother might be a source for C. albicans acquisition in the oral cavity of children affected by the disease.Interestingly, the regression analysis showed that factors such as antibiotic usage, birth weight, inhaler use, brushing frequency, and daycare attendance had no significant effect on the oral carriage of C. albicans in the S-ECC children.