Saliva as potential diagnostic tool – composition, advantages, diagnostic methods and significance in diseases

Abstract

The advantages of saliva as a potential diagnostic fluid and the abundant salivary composition provide opportunities for easy and accessible examination of salivary content changes in a number of oral and general diseases. The analytical methods of mass spectrometry, matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization, enzyme linked immunoassay and immunofluorescence enable the identification of a large number of biomolecules.Alterations in the expression of signaling and immunoreactive molecules in cases of oral potentially malignant disorders and oral squamous cell carcinoma, where some cytokines show potential to be useful as diagnostic and prognostic factors, are of particular interest.