Periodontitis is a chronic multifactorial disease resulting from an interaction between periodontal pathogen bacteria, host, and environmental factors. Genetics has been identified to contribute to the pathogenesis and susceptibility of periodontitis, and interleukin 8 (IL-8) gene is expressing one of the chemokines involved in the inflammation process. This study aimed to evaluate the association of IL-8 -251 A/T gene polymorphism with periodontitis in Indonesian subjects. The study was conducted by genotyping 72 samples of patients with various severity of periodontitis and 41 samples of healthy controls group using PCR-RFLP method. Genotypes of the IL-8 gene polymorphism in periodontitis patients were not significantly different with those in healthy controls. Those with TT genotype were 3.40 times less likely to develop periodontitis compared to AA genotype (95% CI). There was a significant difference in allele frequencies (p < 0.05, OR = 1.828, 95% CI), suggesting that allele T is a risk factor to periodontitis. Statistical analyses with Chi-square testing showed no significant association of IL-8 -251 A/T gene polymorphism and the severity of periodontitis in Indonesia. However, IL-8 -251 A/T gene polymorphism might contribute to the susceptibility of periodontitis.