The AIx corresponds to the pressure difference between the first and second wave in relation to the pulse pressure. The Arteriograph calculates the AIx based on a fixed formula and thus provides the aortic AIx without applying a transfer function. After setting the age of the evaluated subjects to older than 35 years it was not necessary to match the patients in the sense of pair wise assignment. The limit of 35 years was chosen because in the periodontitis group no one was younger than 36. After this exclusion, except the peripheral pulse pressure, there were no significant differences between the periodontally healthy controls and the test group suffering from severe periodontal diseases regarding the following parameters: gender, age, body mass index, height, weight, smoking habits, arterial hypertension, and presence of hypercholesterolemia. The same holds true for medication. After the periodontal examination the recording of the cardiovascular Albaspidin-AA parameters was performed during a subsequent appointment within the next seven days using the Arteriograph with the corresponding TensioMed analysis software. In accordance with the international guidelines for the implementation of arterial stiffness measurements, all measurements were made in the same room under quiet conditions and dim illumination, unaffected by external environmental influences. Firstly the distance between the sternal notch and the symphysis was recorded with a tape measure. Subsequently, in order to minimize sources of recording error each patient had a rest period of ten minutes before the onset of the cardiovascular measurements. All measurements were performed three times, with a predetermined free interval of two minutes between the individual measuring periods. During the examination the study subjects lay relaxed on an examination couch with eyes closed. All vascular data were recorded by the same trained medical technical assistant who was unaware of the assignment of the study subjects to the test or control group. The analysis of the Arteriograph data was performed by an experienced cardiologist who also was unaware of the assignment of the data to the different groups. The main finding of this study is that in patients suffering from severe chronic or aggressive periodontitis arterial stiffness and pulse wave reflection are significantly increased. It further supports the evidence for an association between periodontal and cardiovascular health and is in line with the data of several other studies. The specific relationship between arterial stiffness and periodontitis was documented only once before in a subgroup of patients suffering from arterial hypertension. The data of that study failed to prove a difference in PWV. They revealed a significantly Sibutramine HCl higher left ventricular hypertrophy and significant differences in pulse wave reflection including increased central aortic pressures and increased augmentation in the periodontal disease group in the situation of arterial hypertension. A correlation between the pulse wave velocity and oral inflammation was, by contrast to our data, not confirmed. In terms of pulse wave reflection the results are in concordance with the findings of this study. We were able to identify higher AIx scores in the study subjects suffering from severe periodontal disease when compared to the periodontally healthy controls. Besides a higher sample rate in our study the main difference between Franek’s and our study is patient selection.