Salivary Biomarkers - A Glimpse

This review provides information on biomarkers found in oral fluids relevant to oral and systemic disease, with emphasis on salivary molecules and their potential to provide screening diagnosis. The field of salivary diagnostics is rather new, but a growing number of reports have been published on the topic. Its emerging status is evident, in that many analytes have been investigated by a limited number of scientists; mainly in cross-sectional study designs. Accordingly, a few promising analytes have been identified. Before salivary diagnostics becomes established in clinical practice, biomarker discovery needs greater development and validation, especially with respect to which salivary biomarkers best correlate with specific disease. Targeted approaches that identify key biomarkers linked to distinct biological phases of disease are needed to generate the panels required to provide the sensitivity and specificity needed for accurate and reproducible disease diagnosis. For example, identifying key molecules that appear in saliva during the processes of inflammation, connective tissue destruction and bone remodeling are critical to the field of salivary diagnosis and oral disease.