Exploring newer avenues in diagnostic utility of saliva: A review article

Abstract

This article explores the potential of saliva as a valuable diagnostic tool in healthcare. It highlights two key prerequisites for achieving non-invasive physiological state assessment and disease monitoring through saliva-based diagnostics the discovery of relevant biomarkers within saliva's complex components and the continuous advancement of technology to enhance biomarker sensitivity and specificity. The review can further update clinicians on recent advances in salivary biomarkers for diagnosing various conditions, such as autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, HIV, oral cancer, caries, and periodontal diseases, highlighting their accuracy, efficacy, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness. The article anticipates that with the development of sensitive and specific salivary diagnostic tools and established guidelines, salivary diagnostics will become readily available for chair-side testing of both oral and systemic diseases in the near future. Certain salivary biomarkers can potentially be helpful in combination and singularly for the diagnosis of periodontal disease. However, further meticulously robust research is required to validate these biomarkers.