Effect of sialoadenectomy on the carriage of Candida albicans in the mouths of rats.

Xerostomia provoked in rats by surgical removal of the major salivary glands significantly increased oral carriage of Candida albicans. Five weeks after 3 oral inoculations of 10(8) CFU, C. albicans were found in the mouths in 50% of normal animals but after 8 weeks in none. In xerostomic rats, 100% had oral C. albicans after 5 weeks and after 18 weeks, 66.6% still harboured yeasts. Over the whole experimental period the amount of C. albicans was greater in the mouths of sialoadenectomized than in normal rats.