Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effect of diode laser on Candida albicans colonization in complete denture patients. A total of 40 complete maxillary dentures wearers were studied in this crosssectional study. Dentures were then randomly divided into two groups. In the first group, as the control group, no intervention was made. In the second group, the mucosal surface of dentures was exposed to laser irradiation by the diode laser with a wavelength of 940 nm with 100 mW for 30 seconds before delivery. Samples were collected from the mucosal surface of the upper dentures on the determined days. All collected colonies were counted. Clinical outcome was evaluated regarding the colonization of Candida albicans reported by CFU. The difference in colony counts results between the two groups was evaluated by the Mann-Whitney test. Statistical significance was assumed if p<0.05. The results showed that laser irradiation was significantly effective in reducing Candida colonization. The lower density of the colonies was seen in the laser group compared to the control group on the 15th and 60th days after denture delivery (P = 0.002) and (P = 0.003), respectively. Generalization our data into the clinical setting, it can be proposed that a direct laser-based approach can significantly reduce the colonization of Candida albicans. It can also be concluded that laser light at specific wavelengths could be a promising novel strategy for preventing denture stomatitis. © 2021 by the authors. This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).