Effectiveness evaluation of chlorhexidine and hydrogen peroxide combination toward anaerobic gingival sulcus bacteria

Anaerobic bacteria in the gingival sulcus is the critical etiological factor for initiation and development of periodontal disease such as gingivitis and periodontitis. In addition to scaling and other regular treatments, supporting treatment such as giving irrigating solution using chlorhexidine and hydrogen peroxide to the gingival sulcus was commonly performed by many dental practitioners. Several pharmaceutical companies also provide some modified irrigating solutions for better efficacy and convenience. However, there is still insufficient evidence for each modification. The purpose of this study is to confirm the effectiveness of utilizing combined irrigation solution of chlorhexidine and hydrogen peroxide toward bacterial growth inhibitory capacity. This research was conducted as a laboratory experiment in vitro. The isolated bacteria from human gingival sulcus was taken as the bacterial sample. The experiment was performed by using disc diffusion method on blood agar plate media which was then followed by measuring the bacterial inhibitory zone using sliding caliper. Irrigating solutions for the treatment consisted of 0.2% chlorhexidine and 0.2% chlorhexidine combined with 3% hydrogen peroxide. Homogeneity test by Levene showed that the data were normally distributed. Therefore, Anova variant analysis test was performed. The statistical analysis results showed that the obtained F value was higher than F table with significant p value of < 0.05. These results suggested that there was a significant bacterial growth inhibitory capacity among the groups. The post-hoc analysis indicated that using 0.2% chlorhexidine solution gave higher mean-difference. A Standalone of 0.2% chlorhexidine solution was more effective for anaerobic gingival sulcus bacteria growth inhibition. Keywords—The bacterial inhibitory zone, anaerobic gingival sulcus bacteria, 0.2% chlorhexidine, 3% hydrogen peroxide.