Assessment of antibacterial effect of hydrogen water on plaque from patients with chronic periodontitis

Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease causing destruction of tissues surrounding the teeth. The primary etiological factor for periodontitis is plaque. An inference could be drawn that an overall reduction in microorganisms halts disease progression. It is desirable to have natural agents with minimal side effects to reduce the microbial load.

The aim of the study is to assess the effect of hydrogen water on microbial count in plaque obtained from chronic periodontitis patients and to determine the antibacterial activity of hydrogen water at various time intervals.

A total of twenty chronic periodontitis patients were included after obtaining approval from the institutional ethical committee. Written informed consent was obtained from all the twenty participants. Plaque samples were collected and exposed to hydrogen water at baseline, 1 min, 2 min 30 s, and 5 min. Samples were then cultured on blood agar and incubated in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The colony forming units and total bacterial count were recorded after 24-48 h.

Intragroup pair-wise comparison was done using Wilcoxon sign-ranked test.

Hydrogen water showed antibacterial activity against aerobic and anaerobic organisms associated with chronic periodontitis. There was a statistically significant difference in the number of colony forming units from baseline to 1 and 2.5 min for the aerobic culture and also for baseline to 1, 2.5, and 5 min for the anaerobic culture.

The data of the present study indicate that hydrogen water has an antibacterial effect on microorganisms associated with chronic periodontitis.