An apple a day is famously said to keep the doctor away. While a cranberry a day may not perform such a wonder, researchers think that a substance found in the fruit may someday keep oral thrush away.
According to findings of a lab study by scientists at Rutgers University and University of Laval in Quebec, Canada, A-type cranberry proanthocyanidians, or AC-PAC, inhibited disease-causing properties of Candida albicans. An overgrowth of C. albicans can lead to oral candidiasis, a disease commonly known as oral thrush.
AC-PAC prevented biofilm formation at the gumline and kept the C. albicans from adhering to oral epithelial cells and saliva-coated resin discs in the lab study. Since infection requires biofilm adherence, preventing it may decrease infection rates, the scientists concluded.
They also concluded that these findings could potentially lead to new therapies for preventing and treating oral thrush.
The American Dental Association has public resources on diseases affecting the oral cavity. Click here for information on how medications may cause oral thrush. www.ada.org/6512.aspx?currentTab=1.
Also, an article in the Journal of the American Dental Association (jada.ada.org) published July 2010 has advice for the dental patient with diabetes on how to decrease the risk of an oral thrush infection.© 2017 American Dental Association. All rights reserved. Reproduction or republication is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission from the American Dental Association.