TNF and rheumatoid arthritis: Moreover, when comparing the level of salivary TNF-α among the RA patients, chronic periodontitis patients and controls, the values did not show significant differences, furthermore the amount of clinical attachment loss among the rheumatoid arthritis and chronic periodontitis groups was not correlated with salivary TNF-α level, supporting the idea that levels of inflammatory mediators in periodontitis may be influence by multiple factors such as remission and active period of the disease and local bacterial compositions [26].