Secrets Of Saliva – Reveals Diagnosis Of Health Disorders

It happened with all of us, whenever we thought of something delicious our mouth starts watering. Have you ever wondered, why does this happen? Of course, it is known by all of us that it is due to the miraculous fluid SALIVA. Do you remember, during our academics we studied that saliva helps in chewing as well as digestion of food? 

Also, during this pandemic of COVID-19, the swab collection is done from our mouth and nose. Have you ever wandered why these samples are not taken through blood or urine or some other means? To answer the above question, first we have to look into the secret story of Saliva. So, let’s get started.

Saliva is not only a fluid but many of the necessary proteins which are important for the diagnosis of many diseases are present in saliva only. Also, it is the cheapest source of clinical and research tests to diagnose diseases.

The main motive of writing this blog is to reveal the fact that many of the age-related disorders are present in the form of saliva markers which are measured for better diagnosis. Furthermore, one of the neurological disorders with the name Alzheimer’s Disease, also known as AD, is the most common amongst 5.6 million people affected in United States alone in 2016. The mentioned data was taken from the review article in published in Current Alzheimer Research, on October 2018, by author Wayne R Leifert and colleagues. The methods used for the investigating such diseases is too much costly, as it is invasive too. To overcome this situation, a remarkable approach towards saliva collection is been focused on. Although saliva analysis offers several advantages but it is always be important to have control over saliva sampling and preparation methods for investigating saliva markers.

 Thus, Saliva may have its utility as a simple, fast pre-screening technology in the community to improve early detection of AD, prior to more intensive, expensive and invasive medical diagnostic techniques. Furthermore, saliva-based tests for frequent monitoring of the aging population would allow for more timely disease screening tests and provide a better assessment of disease.

Reference: Review Article

Maxime François, Caroline Felicity Bull , Michael Felix Fenech, Wayne Richard Leifert. Current State of Saliva Biomarkers for Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease. Current Alzheimer Research, 2019, 16, 1-11.

By – Dr Sanchita Shrivastava