**Abstract**

Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease with multifactorial etiology. The anaerobic bacteria have been implicated as the main etiological factor for periodontal destruction. Not all the individuals having the similar amount of plaque and calculus develop the periodontitis. Thus, the host susceptibility to periodontal pathogens plays a significant role in the etiopathogenesis of periodontitis. The genetic factor is the major determinant of the host susceptibility. There are contradictory results and varied results of the association of various genetic loci of different genes with periodontitis in different ethnic populations. This chapter will briefly discuss the various candidates' gene approach in understanding the etiopathogenesis of periodontitis. This chapter also throws some light on the relationship of the recent advances in genetic analysis like genome wide association studies, epigenetic regulation, and infectogenomics with periodontal destruction.

**Keywords:** gene polymorphisms, SNPs, periodontitis, genome wide association studies, infectogenomics, epigenetics
