ObjectiveThe aim of our investigation is to reveal the association of interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) and interleukin‐6 receptor (IL‐6R) gene polymorphisms with chronic periodontitis in Northwestern Chinese Han Population.Material and MethodsA case–control study of 199 cases of chronic periodontitis patients and 216 healthy controls was performed. Genomic DNA was isolated from whole venous blood, and four single nucleotide polymorphisms (IL‐6 −572 G/C and −1363 G/T, IL‐6R −183 G/A and +48892 A/C) were analysed using polymerase chain reaction, followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and sequencing methods.ResultsOur SNP analyses showed that the distribution of the IL‐6 −572 G/C and IL‐6R −183 G/A polymorphisms did not differ between patients and controls. The frequency of the IL‐6 −1363 G/T genotype GG was significantly increased chronic periodontitis cases (P = 0.023, odds ratio (OR) = 2.825 adjusted for gender and age.) The IL‐6R +48892 A/C polymorphisms genotype CC was found to be protective against chronic periodontitis (P = 0.004, OR = 0.318 adjusted for gender and age.). In addition, compared with the other haplotypes, haplotype A+48892A−183 was significantly associated with chronic periodontitis, with an odds ratio of 0.720 (P = 0.0235).ConclusionOur results suggest that the IL‐6 −1363 G/T and IL‐6R +48892 A/C polymorphisms may contribute to genetic susceptibility to chronic periodontitis in Northwestern Chinese Han population.