ABSTRACT
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Adherence and colonization of Candida albicans on tissue conditioners is common and results in irritation of the denture-bearing mucosa. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the antifungal activity and properties of a tissue conditioner by incorporating origanum oil. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Origanum oil at varying concentrations was incorporated into a poly(methyl methacrylate) based tissue conditioner (Visco-gel), and its antifungal activity against Candida albicans was evaluated at 1 day and 1 week by using the agar punch well method. The adherence of Candida albicans, surface roughness, tensile strength, and bond strength of the tissue conditioner with an optimized origanum oil concentration were evaluated. The data were subjected to 2-way ANOVA (α=.05). RESULTS: Sixty vol% origanum oil in tissue conditioner (Visco-gel) showed a mean inhibitory zone of 21.00 ± 1.58 mm at 1 day and 13.44 ± 0.88 mm at 1 week. The control group showed 90 ± 6.80 yeast cells/mm(2) at 1 day and 165 ± 7.63 yeast cells/mm(2) at 1 week, whereas the group with origanum oil showed 16 ± 1.15 yeast cells/mm(2) at 1 day and 32 ± 4.00 yeast cells/mm(2) at 1 week. Surface roughness was less with the incorporation of origanum oil. Tensile strength at 1 day was 0.91 ± 0.52 N for the control group, whereas the group with origanum oil showed 0.16 ± 0.05 N. At 1 day, the bond strength of 3.97 ± 0.75 MPa was observed with control specimens, whereas tissue conditioner with origanum oil showed a bond strength of 3.73 ± 0.65 MPa. CONCLUSIONS: Within the limitations of this in vitro study, origanum oil can be used as an additive to tissue conditioner to reduce the adherence of Candida albicans without significantly affecting its bond strength to heat-polymerized acrylic resin.