Observation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in blood of patient undergoing root canal treatment

In this study, an unusual observation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolated from an infected root canal and from the blood of a patient undergoing endodontic therapy of a tooth with asymptomatic apical periodontitis is reported. Phenotypic (biochemical tests, antifungal susceptibility tests and SDS-PAGE of cellular proteins) and genetic (ribotyping) methods were used to characterize the strains. By using these methods it was found that the blood and root canal isolates were identical but differed from S. cerevisiae strains of other sources. It was therefore more than likely that the root canal was the source of the blood isolate and that it had been transferred unintentionally to the bloodstream during root canal treatment.