universidade de são paulo - Faculdade de Odontologia - Unesp

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Introduction
The presence of Candida albicans biofilms on removable denture surfaces
plays an important role in the etiology of denture stomatitis. The capacity of this
fungus to adhere to surfaces is the first stage in the biofilm formation process,
which is followed by colony formation and cell organization, secretion of
extracellular matrix, maturation and dissemination of the biofilm 1 .
It is known that the adhesion of Candida cells to denture surfaces is
mediated by a salivary conditioning film or pellicle 2,3,4 that provides receptors for
microbial adhesion 5 . However, the role of saliva on Candida albicans adhesion to
biomaterials is, as yet, not fully established, as conflicting results have been
reported. Some authors have observed that the saliva pellicle promoted Candida
albicans colonization on the materials 6,7,8,9,10 . Conversely, others have found that
preconditioning the materials with saliva either did not affect 11,12,13,14 or reduced
Candida albicans adhesion 15,16,17,18,19 . The different periods of preconditioning
with saliva could interfere in the adhesive capacity of Candida 20 and contribute to
the inconsistent findings from these studies. In a number of researches, the
materials were incubated with saliva for short periods such as 30 minutes 16,17,18,19 ,
1 hour 7,8,9 , 2 to 3 hours 4,10 and 4 hours 11,13 . Longer incubation periods, including
overnight 21 , 18 hours 15 and 24 hours 22 have also been used to create a salivary
conditioning film. However, to date, no information is available concerning how
different periods of preconditioning with saliva affect the adhesion of Candida
cells to denture materials.