Direct Microscopy: A Useful Tool to Diagnose Oral Candidiasis in Children and Adolescents.

INTRODUCTION

Oral candidiasis is one of the most common opportunistic fungal infections of the oral cavity in human. Among children, this condition represents one of the most frequent affecting the mucosa. Although most diagnoses are made based on clinical signs and features, a microbiological analysis is sometimes necessary. We performed a literature review on the diagnosis of oral candidiasis to identify the techniques most commonly employed in routine clinical practice.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A Medline-PubMed search covering the last 10 years was performed.

RESULTS

Microbiological techniques were used in cases requiring confirmation of the clinical diagnosis. In such cases, direct microscopy was the method most commonly used for diagnosing candidiasis.

CONCLUSION

Direct microscopy appears as the method of choice for confirming clinical diagnosis and could become a routine chair-side technique.