Candidiasis Treatment
Symptoms

Initially, you may not even notice symptoms of oral thrush. Depending on the underlying cause, signs and symptoms may develop slowly or suddenly, and they may persist for days, weeks or months. Signs and symptoms may include:

Creamy white lesions on your tongue, inner cheeks, and sometimes on the roof of your mouth, gums and tonsils

Slightly raised lesions with a cottage cheese like appearance

Redness or soreness that may be severe enough to cause difficulty eating or swallowing

Slight bleeding if the lesions are rubbed or scraped

Cracking and redness at the corners of your mouth (especially in denture wearers)

A cottony feeling in your mouth

Loss of taste

In severe cases, the lesions may spread downward into your esophagus; the long, muscular tube stretching from the back of your mouth to your stomach (Candida esophagitis). If this occurs, you may experience difficulty swallowing or feel as if food is getting stuck in your throat.

Causes

Normally, your immune system works to repel harmful invading organisms, such as viruses, bacteria and fungi, while maintaining a balance between good and bad microbes that normally inhabit your body. But sometimes these protective mechanisms fail, increasing the number of candida fungi and allowing an oral thrush infection to take hold.

Oral thrush and other candida infections can occur when your immune system is weakened by disease or by drugs such as prednisone, or when antibiotics disturb the natural balance of microorganisms in your body.

These diseases and conditions may make you more susceptible to oral thrush infection:

HIV/AIDS. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS, damages or destroys cells of your immune system, making you more susceptible to opportunistic infections that your body would normally resist. Repeated bouts of oral thrush, along with other symptoms, may be early indications of an immune deficiency, such as HIV infection.

Cancer. If you have cancer, your immune system is likely to be weakened from the disease and from treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation. Both the disease and treatments can increase your risk of candida infections such as oral thrush.

Diabetes mellitus. If you have untreated diabetes or the disease is not well controlled, your saliva may contain large amounts of sugar, which encourages the growth of candida.

Vaginal yeast infections. Vaginal yeast infections are caused by the same fungus that causes oral thrush. Although a yeast infection isn't dangerous, if you're pregnant you can pass the fungus to your baby during delivery. As a result, your newborn may develop oral thrush.

Western Medicine Treatment

The goal of any oral thrush treatment is to stop the rapid spread of the fungus, but the best approach may depend on your age, your overall health and the cause of the infection.

Healthy adults and children. Your doctor may recommend antifungal medication. This comes in several forms, including lozenges, tablets, or a liquid that you swish in your mouth and then swallow.

Infants and nursing mothers. If you are breast feeding and your infant has oral thrush, you and your baby could pass the infection back and forth. Your doctor may prescribe a mild antifungal medication for your baby and an antifungal cream for your breasts. Ask your doctor about the best way to clean your breast nipples, bottle nipples, pacifiers and any detachable parts of a breast pump if you use one.

Adults with weakened immune systems. Most often your doctor will recommend antifungal medication. But Candida albicans can become resistant to many antifungal medications, especially in people with late stage HIV infection. So a drug called amphotericin B may be used, but only when other drugs aren't effective, as it can cause serious side effects.