Oral Thrush

Oral thrush can cause a variety of of oral pathologies. The two most common being the formation of white oral plaques and denture stomatitis. Candida albicans is the most prevalent species that causes these conditions most often prevalent in infancy, old age, and among the terminally ill. Diabetes, leukemia, aids, and the over use of steroid inhalers and psychotropic drugs are the greatest risk factors.

Oral thrush is characterized by white patches that appear as discrete lesions on the throat, gums, tongue, ahnd surfaces of the buccal mucosa. The plaques can be scraped off to reveal a raw sometimes bleeding base. The infection is not normally painful but can be in severe cases of mucousal erosion. Many times the infection travels into the esophaus and lungs but this mostly affects immno compromised patients.

Newborn infants are at a greater risk of oral thrush because of their lack of immune defenses at birth. The birth canal is a major source of infection along with teats, toothbrushes, nurses hands, and pacifiers have also been implicated. The latex in IV's is also known to grow yeasts and has infected infants directly into the blood stream.

Direct effects of salivary ph has been found to make no difference in the growth of oral thrush. Low salivary flow rates correlate with higher prevalence of oral yeast. Sometimes candida albicans stimulates the production of lactobacillus casei so there is very little reason to believe that lactobacillus offer protection from oral thrush.

There is also evidence suggesting oral thrush can be transferred to cutaneous skin sites on the body, this would suggest it may be contagious.

The tongue and palate are the main infection sites and carriers of oral thrush have been found to have higher levels of the IgA antibodies than those that don't carry the fungi. IgA can and does inhibit the attachment of candida to oral mucosa and this substance is commonly found in colostrum.

Coconut oil is also a proven candida killer, the active ingredients being capric acid found in cold pressed coconut oil, which caused the quickest and most effective killing of three strains of candida. Lauric acid was found to work on a slower time period but was the most effective killing agent. The oils explode the plasma membranes and nucleus of the candida yeast cell from the inside out. You simply take a tbls and let it slowly dissolve in your mouth. it also is a very stable oil when used for cooking and you still receive its benefits.

Cinnamon oil has been found to be deadly to drug resistant candida yeast and other fungal infections. The active ingredients are cinnamaldehyde, cinnamon oil vapors and eugenol. Preliminary human evidence confirms this effect in a clinical trial with AIDS patients suffering from oral candida (thrush) infections that improved with topical application of cinnamon oil.

Alopathic treatment options that have the greatest success are amphotericin B lozenges and miconazole. Gentian Violet often works for cases that are not to severe along with many of the natural treatments if they are allowed to remain in the mouth as long as possible like the lozenges. Please see the Treatment page for medically proven alternatives for candida.

Denture oral thrush is prevalent in 24 to 60% of denture wearers with females having the condition four to fives times that of males. Higher rates are seen in denture wearers that wear their dentures throughout the night.

The highest infection areas are the denture fitting surfaces and candida does adhere well to the plastics used in dentures. Orthodontic appliances can also lead to the buildup of yeasts similiar to dentures. Usually the oral thrush does not form deep penetrating plaques in denture wearers if their t-cell responses are normal.

It is recommended that denture wearers do not wear them at night and make sure you clean your dentures everyday. Sometimes an oral antifungal is needed if the oral thrush plaques do not go away from following the above mentioned hygiene for your dentures.