I included the article below. The implications for this in dentistry is that periodontal disease is a chronic infection that has also been shown to increase your Risk for cardiovascular disease such as heart attacks and strokes. In the article it mentions that strokes are the third leading cause for death in the US.

By Chris Emery, Contributing Writer, MedPage TodayPublished: November 11, 2009Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco andDorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner
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People infected with the herpes virus, ulcer-causing bacteria, and other common bugs appear to be at increased risk of stroke from cumulative exposure to the pathogens, a new study found.Five common infections were associated with increased stroke risk, with adjusted hazard ratios ranging from 1.13 with Helicobacter pylori (95% CI 0.68 to 1.89) to 2.19 with cytomegalovirus (95% CI 0.84 to 5.70), according to an online published Nov. 9 in the Archives of Neurology.However, none of the individual associations was statistically significant.The infectious burden index for the patients was associated with an increased risk of stroke of 39% per standard deviation (95% CI 1.02 to 1.90) after the researchers adjusted for demographics and risk factors.
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Note that cumulative exposure to common infections appears to be associated with increased risk of stroke.
Note the study did not find any significant link between stroke risk and specific infections."These results provide evidence that there is probably no single infectious agent responsible for atherosclerosis or stroke, but that a more likely mechanism for any possible association of infection with stroke is through a more general proinflammatory mechanism," Mitchell S.V. Elkind, MD, MS, of the Neurological Institute, and colleagues wrote.
Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. and the leading cause of serious disability, but many people who suffer strokes have none of the common risk factors, such as hypertension, cardiac disease, or smoking.
As a result, researchers hope to identify other risk factors that might explain these cases. The results of previous studies have suggested that infections by herpes viruses and other pathogens might promote inflammation and thus contribute to arterial disease and stroke risk.
Elkind and colleagues obtained blood samples from 1,625 adults (average age of 68.4 years) living in northern Manhattan, none of whom had suffered a stroke, to test whether they had been infected with one or more of five common pathogens.
These included Chlamydia pneumoniae, Helicobacter pylori, cytomegalovirus, and herpes simplex virus 1 and 2. The patients were enrolled in the Northern Manhattan Study between 1993 and 2001.
"Each of these common pathogens may persist after an acute infection and thus contribute to perpetuating a state of chronic, low-level infection," the authors wrote. "Second, prior studies demonstrated an association between each of these pathogens and cardiovascular diseases."
The researchers followed-up with the patients annually for a median of 7.6 years, during which time 67 of the participants had strokes. The cumulative results were similar after excluding participants with coronary disease (adjusted HR 1.50; 95% CI 1.05 to 2.13) and adjusting for inflammatory biomarkers.
"Our study could have potential clinical implications," the authors wrote. "For example, treatment and eradication of these chronic pathogens might mitigate future risk of stroke. Antibiotic therapy directed against C pneumoniae has been tested in randomized controlled trials without evidence of benefit against heart disease.
"Whether the same holds true for stroke has not yet been established. More studies will be required to further explore [infectious burden] as a potential modifiable risk factor for stroke."
They noted that the study was limited by a lack of data on participants' use of cholesterol-lowering drugs such as statins, preexisting inflammatory diseases, use of anti-inflammatory medications, immunosuppression status, and infection status at the time of stroke.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The authors reported no financial conflicts of interest.
Primary source: Archives of NeurologySource reference:Elkind M, et al "Infectious burden and risk of stroke" Arch Neurol 2009; DOI: 10.1001/archneurol.2009.271