Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between socioeconomic status and periodontal disease. Methods: The data used for the analysis were obtained from the sixth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2015). A total of 5,632 adults, aged over 19 years, were included in the study. This study analyzed data relating to socioeconomic status and health behaviors. The socioeconomic status was defined as an exogenous factor. Periodontal disease was the endogenous variable. Health behavior was a mediating variable. The study hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modeling analysis with Mplus 7.0 software. Results: According to the model fit test, the associated root-mean-square error was 0.05 (90% CI: 0.046-0.059); comparative fit index was 0.93; Tucker-Lewis index was 0.88; and standardized root-mean-square residual was 0.03. We found that socioeconomic status had significant effects on health behaviors (β=0.304, p<0.001) and periodontal disease (β=-0.289, p=0.001). Moreover, health behaviors had significant effects on periodontal diseases (β=0.143, p<0.001). The analysis of a possible relationship between socioeconomic status and periodontal disease using path analysis demonstrated health behaviors difficulties, along with direct and indirect effects, further increased the risk of periodontal disease. Conclusions: The findings suggest that future interventions for the prevention of periodontal disease should consider health behavior.