universidade de são paulo - Faculdade de Odontologia - Unesp

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fluorine was incorporated. Robinson et al. 22 found that increasing the degree of
fluorination the surfaces became more negative due to the presence of the
electronegative fluorine atoms. It has been reported that surface-charged resins
may alter the ionic interaction between the denture base and Candida spp 9-11 .
Negatively charged resin surfaces showed significantly lower levels of Candida
than the untreated ones 9,11 .
Roughness has been considered an important factor that affects the
adhesion and some studies have found that an increase in surface roughness
facilitated the yeast retention 1,32-34 . Thus, in this study, in all groups half of the
specimens were processed against stone and half were polymerized in contact
with glass for obtaining rough and smooth surfaces, respectively. However, no
significant differences were observed in the Candida albicans adhesion (Figure
1). These results are in accordance with those reported in recent studies where no
significant influence of roughness on adherence of Candida albicans was verified.
5,26,35-37 . Nevertheless, other studies should be conducted using specimens with
prepared surfaces that cover a wide range of roughness values.
Since all intra-oral surfaces are coated by saliva, it is important to consider
its effects on adhesion. Hence, in the present investigation, half of the specimens
of each group were preconditioned with saliva prior to inoculation. Adhesion of
Candida albicans to untreated and treated specimens was not influenced by saliva.
A comparison among in vitro studies reveals contradictory results. While some
authors observed that salivary pellicle promoted fungal colonization on the
materials 2,28,38-41 , others have found that the pretreatment with saliva had no