Antibacterial potential of chitosan extract from crustacean shells against periodontal disease bacteria

Potensi ekstrak kitosan dari cangkang crustasea sebagai antibakteri pada bakteri penyakit periodontal

Abstract

Periodontal disease is one of the most common dental and oral conditions in the general population. Data from the 2018 Riskesdas survey show that 57.6% of the Indonesian population suffer from dental and oral problems, yet only 10.2% receive medical treatment, whilst the prevalence of periodontitis among those aged 15 years and over stands at 67.8%. Periodontal disease can be a manifestation of systemic diseases such as diabetes mellitus and anaemia; its primary cause is the accumulation of pathogenic bacterial plaque, such as Porphyromonas gingivalis and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, which damages the gingival tissue and leads to loss of attachment. Conventional therapy involves debridement through scaling and root planing, which is now often combined with antibiotics such as tetracycline, doxycycline, metronidazole and amoxicillin to enhance the effectiveness of treatment. In recent developments, natural sub-stances such as chitosan have begun to be utilised due to their bacteriostatic properties, which are capable of inhibiting the growth of various pathogenic mi-croorganisms. It is concluded that chitosan, derived from the chitin of marine animals and insects, offers a promising alternative therapy for the management of periodontal disease.