Asian Journal of Dental Sciences

Aim: To evaluate the antifungal efficacy of xylitol against candida albicans

Settings and Design: The study design involves an In vitro study.

Materials and Methods: The fungal strain candida albicans was inoculated in a PDA-Himedia. The sample was weighed about 10mg/ml and dissolved in  Solvent (deionized water) to prepare appropriate dilution to get required concentration of about 50, 100,150, 200, 250, 300 and 350μl  and standard solution as Fluconazole (10mg/ml distilled water) for fungi. Antibiogram was done in samples by disc diffusion method. Petri plates were prepared by pouring 30 ml of Potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium. The test organism was inoculated on solidified agar plate. The plates were incubated at 37ºC for 48 hr for fungal strains.

Statistical Analysis Used: Statistical analysis was performed using IBM software SPSS version 20 at one-way ANOVA.

Results: The result of this study showed that the xylitol has an inhibitory effect on the growth of candida albicans. In the present study the xylitol had zones of inhibition against C. albicans at all concentrations. The highest inhibition of 14.25±0.99 was seen at the concentration of  350μl.

Conclusion: According to the result Xylitol has considerable antimicrobial effects against candida albicans. The antimicrobial efficacy of xylitol approximates with standard fluconazole. Hence xylitol can be used as antifungal agent in clinical trials