## 3 Results  
The mean age of the study population was 60.38 years (SD \(\pm\) 10.36), ranging from 29 to 86 years. The majority (50%) were over 60 years old. There was a female predominance (67.6%), with a male-to-female ratio of 1:2. The ethnic distribution predominantly consisted of Sinhalese (84.1%), aligning with the general population of the Kandy District. Fifty-five percent (55.1%) of participants were diagnosed within the last decade. Additionally, 54.8% were also receiving treatments for hypertension and dyslipidemia, while 26.7% only had type 2 DM. Figure 3 presents the detailed socio-demographic features of the study population. Candidal lesions were identified in 17.6% of the study population (62/352 patients), with the diagnoses confirmed through identification of fungal hyphae with exfoliative  
Figure 3: Socio-demographic presentation of the study sample. Note: NCD = non-communicable disease; HTN = hypertension; DL = dyslipidemia. cytology using PAS staining. The most common lesion was Denture Stomatitis (DS) (4%) (Figure 4), followed by Erythermatous Candidiasis (EC) (3.4%), Pseudomonas Candidiasis (PMC) (3.1%) (Figure 5), and Chronic Hyperplastic Candidiasis (CHC) (2.8%) (Table 1). Less frequently identified conditions included Angular Cheilities (AC) (1.1%), _Candidia_-associated dry mouth (0.6%), and Median Rhomboid Glossitis (MRG) (0.3%), which were excluded from further clinicopathological analysis due to their low prevalence. A noteworthy finding was that all DM patients (100%) were unaware of the existence of their oral lesions, which were detected as incidental findings during this study. Figure 4: Clinical images show Denture Stomatitis on the hard palate of a 54-year-old female patient (**a**) with poor denture hygiene (**b**). The lesion was characterized by erythema. The PAS-stained smear reveals a cluster of magenta-colored candidial hyphae, which are non-branching (arrows) in nature, confirming the diagnosis of DS (**c**). Figure 5: Clinical images show a white plaque-like lesion that could be scraped off on the dorsum of the tongue of a 60-year-old female patient (**a**), who was unaware of the presence of the lesion. PAS staining revealed candidial hyphae (arrows), which confirms the diagnosis of PMC (**b**). PMC (72.7%) was predominantly found on the dorsum of the tongue, with a slight female predominance (male-to-female ratio of 0.8:1). The median glycemic level in this group was 137 mg/dL. EC had the highest median age (67 years) and median glycemic level (160 mg/dL). Unlike PMC, EC was more prevalent in males (male-to-female ratio of 1:0.7), but similarly, most lesions (58%) were on the dorsum of the tongue. CHC showed higher median glycemic levels (152 mg/dL) than PMC (137 mg/dL) and was mostly located on the buccal mucosa. DS, the most common lesion, was significantly associated with upper denture wearers and was exclusively found on the hard palate (100%). It was more frequent in females (male-to-female ratio of 0.27:1) (Table 1). Patients with EC were significantly older compared to those without candidial lesions (\(p\) = 0.041, Mann-Whitney U test). DS patients had significantly higher glycemic levels than those without lesions (\(p\) = 0.045, Mann-Whitney U test), highlighting the impact of hyperglycemia on DS occurrence in denture wearers. According to Table 2, males were significantly more likely to present with oral candidial lesions (27.19%) compared to females (13.44%, \(p\) = 0.002, \(\chi^{2}\) test). Patients older than 60 years had a higher prevalence (10.51%) of candidial lesions than those younger than 60 years (7.38%); this was not statistically significant (\(p\) = 0.153, \(\chi^{2}\) test). Higher glycemic levels (>110 mg/dL) were associated with a greater likelihood (13.35%) of candidial lesions compared to those with lower glycemic levels (<110 mg/dL, 4.54%); however, this was not statistically significant.