The hypotheses tested were that levels of C-Reactive Protein (CRP) would be higher in patients with chronic periodontitis in comparison with those without periodontal disease and that the non-surgical periodontal treatment would decrease levels of CRP in patients with chronic periodontitis.

Inclusion Criteria:

Patients should have ≥ 20 teeth present; (ii) absence of oral soft tissue lesions; (iii) have ≤ 3 carious lesions in all teeth. In addition, to be included in the Test group the subject had to present chronic periodontitis (involvement of at least 5 teeth with at least one site presenting probing depth (PD) ≥ 5 mm and clinical attachment loss (CAL) ≥ 3 mm) while to be included in the Control group the patient had to exhibit periodontal healthy (bleeding on probing (BOP) < 30% of the sites and absence of any PD > 4mm associated with BOP).

Exclusion Criteria:

(i) periodontal disease treatment in the previous six months; (ii) aged less than 35 years; (iii) systemic conditions such as history of CVD or any other chronic or immunologic diseases and the use of related drugs in the previous six months; (iv) smokers or former smokers; (v) pregnant or lactating women; (vi) hypertension (>140 systolic and > 90 diastolic mmHg); (vii) obesity (Body Mass Index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m²); (viii) levels of HDL-cholesterol > 35.0 mg/dL (ix) levels of LDL-cholesterol < 160.0 mg/dL (x)levels of triglycerides < 400.0 mg/dL and (xi) levels of glucose levels < 100 mg/dL.