Systemic, peripheral infections may be a risk factor for common diseases of CNS with neurodegenerative, vascular and immunological background. Epidemiology of severe periodontitis in Polish population is still unknown. Therefore, to explore a link between periodontitis and general diseases, a study is performed with analysis of periodontal status among post‑stroke patients and compare the results with the general healthy cohort. Periodontitis is an inflammatory condition of the periodontium, even though bacterial plaque is the primary initiator of the response, systemic factors such as stroke is a significant risk factor that can create further destruction to the gingiva and alveolar bone. The aim of this case‑control study is to investigate the role of stroke in the development of periodontitis in patients. The test population comprises of 104 patients from the Department of Vascular Diseases of Nervous System in Poznan University of Medical Sciences (female = 61, male = 33, age range from 20–79 years [average of 45.97 years]) diagnosed with stroke and 94 relatively healthy patients from the Department of Oral Surgery and Periodontology in Poznan University of Medical Sciences (female = 45, male = 59, age range from 33–92 years [average of 67.38 years]). Patients’ periodontal indices (Bleeding on Probing [BOP] and Approximal Plaque Index [API]) were measured and displayed in histogram and boxplots for visualization of data distribution. The data values were statistically analyzed with z‑testing, and it is determined that there is a significant association between periodontal disease and stroke (p < 0.01) in both BOP and API scores.

Key words: peripheral infections, stroke, periodontitis.