Salivary Diagnostics: Tailoring Your Care To Your Patients

Current advancements in salivary diagnostics and other oral tests now give dentists the ability to help tailor the care for their patients. One can now test for periodontal pathogens, periodontal genetic markers, HPV and caries risk using various salivary diagnostic tools. These tests can help dentists achieve the best possible outcome for their patients.

The sources of saliva are the three pairs of major salivary glands (parotid, submandibular and sublingual glands) along with many minor salivary glands found throughout the mouth. Whole saliva, as opposed to gland specific saliva is mostly used for diagnostics since it is more readily collected and contains the important serum constituents. Whole saliva also includes gingival crevicular fluid, nasal and bronchial secretions, serum and blood derivatives from wounds, desquamated epithelial linings, food components, and micro organisms that reside in the oral cavity.¹

In September of 1999, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research held a workshop on salivary diagnostics with the specific intent of pushing forward research and technology to make it a feasible reality. And, in a 2010 article, Dr. Loo et. al. stated that over 2,290 proteins or proteomes have been identified in human saliva and 40% of plasma proteins associated with different disease processes can be found in saliva.²

For years, the standard for testing has been blood serum and plasma, however, saliva has several significant advantages over blood testing. It is easy to collect, it doesn’t stress patients like a needle stick, doesn’t require special training to collect and is easily stored. One goal of the NIDCR is that salivary tests be able to be tested chair side to speed up all the potential benefits of the testing. Currently, a UCLA research group has a prototype called the OFNASER (oral fluid nano-sensor test) which, when available, will be able to provide chair side results.³