Abstract
Oral health is closely related to systemic health. Periodontitis, a chronic inflammatory disease which is highly prevalent worldwide, interacts with a variety of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). It is a risk factor in the complex pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease and plays a role in the development of endocarditis and recurrent pneumonia in elderly people. However, the available data may be interpreted in different ways, and more and better-designed studies are still needed to answer relevant questions about the causal role of periodontitis in NCDs. What is clear is that periodontitis contributes to the systemic inflammatory burden. As periodontitis shares many common risk factors with NCDs, close collaboration between physicians and dentists is needed to increase the chance of early detection and improve the prevention and control of these conditions.