The association of CRP with hypertension in the setting
of periodontitis has not been consistent, possibly due tomany
other factors that can elevate inflammatory markers, or simply
hypertension itself is a multifactorial disease. However,
it has recently been proposed that hs-CRP may be a useful
marker linking periodontal disease and chronic inflammation
[76] which leads to endothelial dysfunction [69].
Periodontitis has been reported to attenuate endotheliumdependent
vasodilatation in experimental rats. This ill-effect
was due to the elevation of systemic inflammatory biomarkers
(CRP and IL-6), worsening the lipid profile, and increased
production of vascular superoxide radicals and reduction of
vascular nitric oxide synthase-3 (NOS-3) expression [69].
Furthermore, periodontitis is not confined to a localized
lesion but may contribute to an increased systemic immune
response in patients [77]. Periodontitis may therefore be
capable to induce vascular inflammation which leads to
endothelial dysfunction, an initial step for CVD.Al-Ghurabei
[78] has documented that serum levels of hs-CRP and
IL-6 were significantly elevated in patients with chronic
periodontitis as compared to healthy control group