ABSTRACT
Fifty individuals of both sexes aged on average 45.2 years were evaluated at the Semiology Clinic of FORP-USP in order to isolate and identify yeasts from the oral cavity, with and without lesions, and to determine the maximal inhibitory dilution (MID) of the commercial products Propolis (Apis-Flora) and Periogard (Colgate) against the strains isolated. Yeasts of the genus "Candida" were detected in the saliva of 9.19 (47.4(per cent)) individuals with clinically healthy mouth, 18/22 (81.8(per cent)) of individuals with oral lesions, and in 4/9 (44.4(per cent)) of patients with deviation from normality, and were detected in 19/22 (86.4(per cent)) of the lesions. In the group with oral candidiasis, we isolated in tongue and lesion, respectively for each specie: "C. tropicalis" (8(per cent) and 10.7(per cent)), "C. glabrata" (4(per cent)) and 3.6(per cent)) and "C. parapsilosis" (2(per cent) and 3.6(per cent)), in addition to "C. albicans" (71.4(per cent) and 67.8(per cent)) as the only species and the prevalent. The total cfu counts/ml saliva showed a higher mean value in the group with oral candidiasis (171.5E+3) than in the control group (72.6E+3) or the group with abnormalities (8.3E+3). Most of the test strains 67/70 (95.71(per cent)) were sensitive to the antiseptics, with Propolis presenting a MID of 1:20 for 54/70/77.1(per cent)), and Periogard a MID of 1:160 for 42/70 (60(per cent)) strains from healthy sites, results similar to those obtained with strains from oral lesions. Different results were mainly observed among different species. The results indicate the possibility of using the antiseptics Propolis and Periogard (chlorhexidine) for the prevention and treatment of oral candidiasis