Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the adherence of Candida albicans to the maxillofacial prosthesis commonly employed in material-silicone and to compare silicone elastomers.

Methods: The adherence of Candida albicans to three silicone elastomers (VST-50, MDX4-4210 and A2000-1) (Factor II Inc., Lakeside, Arizona) was investigated. Ten specimens of each elastomer were prepared cylinderform with 1cm in diameter and 0,5 cm in height. The specimens were placed in Sabouraud broth (30 ml) contaminated with Candida albicans. In order to investigate the fungal colonization on surfaces of incubated specimens, turbidity was measured in spectrophotometer. Microorganisms shaved off from surfaces of specimens were placed into 5ml Sabouraud broth and were shaken with vortex. The same procedures were carried out with saliva-coated specimens. In this case the influence of saliva on material was also investigated.

Results were analyzed with Paired T-Test and with one-way ANOVA.

Results: There was no significant difference among all uncoated materials in C. albicans adhesion (p>0.05); but there was a statistically significant difference among the coated materials. Saliva coated A2000-1 silicone elastomer showed a significantly less adhesion then the coated MDX4-4210 and VST-50 elastomers. With analysis of fungal adherence in coated and uncoated specimens for each elastomer, no significant difference was observed between coated and uncoated A2000-1 elastomers, but significantly more adhesion was observed in coated specimens for both MDX4-4210 and VST-50 elastomers.

Conclusion: Unfortunately there are only few studies on the interactions between maxillofacial material and Candida. Further analysis is required to clarify the adherence of Candida albicans on maxillofacial prosthetic materials.

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