ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Periodontitis is a common disease with an unclear pathological mechanism. No precise consensus has been reached to evaluate the association between the IL-10 rs1800872 (- 592, -590, -597 C>A) polymorphism and periodontal disease. Thus, we performed this meta-analysis to collect more evidence-based information. METHODS:Four online databases, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and China Biology Medicine disc (CBM), were searched in August 2018. An odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was applied to evaluate the association of the rs1800872 with periodontitis susceptibility. RESULTS:Twenty three case-control studies with 2714 patients and 2373 healthy controls were evaluated. The overall analyses verified that the IL-10 rs1800872 polymorphism was significantly associated with an increased risk of periodontitis in the allelic model, homozygote model, dominant model, and recessive model (A vs C: OR?=?1.28, 95%CI?=?1.11-1.49, P?=?.00, I?=?56.87%; AA vs CC: OR?=?2.06, 95%CI?=?1.32-3.23, P?=?.00, I?=?73.3%; AA?+?AC vs CC: OR?=?1.42, 95%CI?=?1.03-1.96, P?=?.03, I?=?76.2%; AA vs AC?+?CC: OR?=?1.78, 95%CI?=?1.26-2.56, P?=?.00, I?=?76.7%). Moreover, the subgroup analysis based on ethnicity, periodontitis type, and smoking status showed significant differences. CONCLUSIONS:The results of our meta-analysis demonstrate that rs1800872 is associated with periodontitis susceptibility in Caucasians and Asians. Moreover, A allele, AA genotype, CC genotype may be closely associated with chronic periodontitis (CP), while A allele, AA genotype may be closely associated with aggressive periodontitis (AgP).