%0 Journal Article %T Clinically Classified Periodontitis and Its Association in Patients with Preexisting Coronary Heart Disease %A Nikolaos A. Chrysanthakopoulos %A Panagiotis A. Chrysanthakopoulos %J Journal of Oral Diseases %D 2013 %R 10.1155/2013/243736 %X The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate possible associations between clinically classified periodontitis as determined by assessing its severity and diagnosed coronary heart disease in outpatients referred to a specialist clinic for neurosurgery treatment. A total of 2,912 individuals were clinically examined for periodontal disease experience by using probing pocket depth (PPD) and clinical attachment loss (CAL). Socioeconomic, oral health behaviour, and general health related information was collected by using a self-administered questionnaire. Statistical analysis of the questionnaire items was performed by using multivariate logistic regression analysis model. The results showed that the occurrence of hypertension ( , 95% CIˋ=ˋ1.52每3.84), smoking ( , 95% CIˋ=ˋ1.25每3.11), classified periodontitis ( , 95% CIˋ=ˋ1.15每2.77), and the high level of serum C-reactive protein ( , 95% CIˋ=ˋ1.05每2.89) were significantly associated with the presence of coronary heart disease. These observations strengthen the role of some of the traditional causative risk factors for coronary heart disease while a significant association was recorded between diagnosed coronary heart disease and clinically classified periodontitis which is considered as a risk factor for coronary heart disease. 1. Introduction Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and in particular coronary heart disease (CHD) represent a severe health condition and the main cause of mortality nowadays in industrialized societies. CHD is a multifactorial pathological condition and occurs as a result of genetic, environmental, and behavioral risk factors [1] while chronic inflammation has been implicated etiologically in CVD and CHD [2]. The genetic factors include age, gender, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, marked obesity, lipid metabolism, fibrinogen levels, and platelet P1 polymorphism [3每5]. The environmental and behavioral risk factors include diet, physical inactivity, stress, cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, socioeconomic status, chronic infections, use of nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs, and possible endothelial cell injury [4每7]. However, a significant proportion of CHD is not explained by the traditional risk factors [8]. Periodontitis is a complex chronic inflammatory disease, resulting in a loss of connective tissue and bone support of the teeth [9]. Previous studies have linked several risk factors to periodontitis including diabetes mellitus, smoking, age, gender, low socioeconomic status [10], dyslipidemias, and excessive alcohol consumption [9, 11], whereas the genetic %U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jod/2013/243736/