Comparison of Growth of Different Species of Candida before and after the Use of Triamcinolone and Betamethasone Mouth Washes in the Healthy

Candida is a normal flora of the mouth in 30 to 50 % of general population. Corticosteroids like triamcinolone and betamethasone are being used as mouth washes, and administered orally, local or injected for treatment of mouth lesions. The aim of the present study was to find the amount of growth of Candida species following the use of betamethasone and triamcinolone mouth washes. In this experimental study, sixty healthy persons (18-40 years old), divided randomly into two equal age- and sex-matched groups and filled a questionnaire for medical history of underlying factors for candidiasis. All the subjects gargled for 1 minute with either a half spoon of triamcinolone or betamethasone solution twice a day for 2 weeks. The salivary samples of the selected people were collected in sterile tubes and cultured in chrome agar media for 48 hours and assessed for growth of different species of Candida. The growth of different types of Candida in each person was checked and compared with control saliva before starting treatment. This results showed that amount of Candida species in saliva of healthy people before and after the gargling of either betamethasone or triamcinolone were not significantly altered (p= 0.584 and 0.305 respectively). The most frequent type of Candida in the saliva of healthy people was Candida albicans. The finding of this study demonstrated that short-term gargling of topical corticosteroids has no effect on the growth of Candida species. Furthermore, the presence of Candida albicans in both normal and corticosteroids-treated saliva may be due to higher pathogenicity of this species.