Angular cheilitis: Microbiological study

Abstract

A clinical and microbiological study was carried out to determine the main causative pathogens of the angular cheilitis was carried out in Tikrit City during the year 2008 in 29 patients (13 males and 16 females) ranging in age from 31-68 years old. Twelve patients were denture wearers (41.38 %), others were not. Patients with angular stomatitis, prior to any therapy, was sampled and shown that the concentration of Candida albicans always exceeded 8,000 organisms per square centimeter per patient in many of denture wearer patients, while with over-closure of the mouth, the concentration of Candida albicans always exceeded 6,500 organisms per square centimeter per patient in 18 of these patients. 15 of them (52 %) showed that the isolated microbial pathogens were Staphylococcus aureus. nine of them (3 1 %) showed Streptococcus sanguis; seven of them (24 %) showed Streptococcus mutans. The number and percentage of isolated pathogens were increased with the advancing of age, wearing of dentures and over-closure of the mouth for many patients with angular cheilitis, especially Candida albicans and Staphylococcus aureus.