Abstract
Background and Aim : Timely diagnosis is an important factor in successful treatment of diseases. In . this regard, non-invasive sampling methods such as salivary analysis may be of great help in assessment of diseases and treatment outcomes . Currently, introduction of new techniques for salivary analysis has increased its potential as a new diagnosing tool .
Materials and Methods : The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) was the first to propose the role of saliva in diagnosis and assessment of diseases. Since then, several studies have been conducted in this respect. This review article aims to evaluate the results of these studies to provide a brief insight on the correlation of saliva with different oral and systemic diseases. Key words namely saliva, biomarkers, oral diseases and systemic diseases were searched in PubMed, Google Scholar, EBSCO, Scopus and Medline databases and articles relevant to the use of saliva for evaluation and detection of various diseases published during 1950-2011 were collected .
Results : Salivary analysis increases the collaboration between dentists and physicians and can be used for detection of some systemic conditions .
Conclusion: This review study discusses the role of saliva in detection of different oral and systemic conditions and emphasizes its importance .