Diagnostic Value of Saliva in Oral and Systemic Diseases: A Literature Rewiew

Introduction: The value of saliva as a diagnostic resource of oral and systemic diseases has been object of study of several researchers that intend to add a possible complementary examination. The analysis of saliva, as analyses based on the use of blood, has two goals: first, to identify individuals with disease, and second, to follow the evolution of the affected individual, evaluating the effectiveness of the treatment. Among the advantages of the use of this resource, it may be mentioned ease of material collection and handing, which are important points in the technical operationalization of this type of examination. Saliva can be useful in the evaluation of caries risk as well as in the diagnosis of other diseases by means of syalometric and syalochemical methods (flow salivary). These methods allow that substances are dosed and thus contribute to the diagnosis of diseases from the assessment of the levels of inorganic and organic elements, such as hormonal dosages, analysis of biological, viral, bacterial and fungal agents, in addition to bacterial markers that are useful in cancer diagnosis and prognosis. It is necessary to consider a hierarchical model used for diagnostic evaluation of the technology, which consists in five basic levels of analysis in which the efficacy of the entire diagnostic test should be evaluated: the analytical, which considers the accuracy and exactness; the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity; the efficacy of the result for the patient based on the medical decision making; the operational evaluation, which considers the predictive value and the test efficiency; and the cost/benefit.Purpose: To perform an ample literature review on the use of saliva as a diagnostic resource of diseases and monitoring of oral and systemic health.Conclusion: The advances in the studies of diagnostic methods that use saliva as a biological mean for diagnosis and surveillance of oral and systemic conditions present promising results, which could constitute an examination resource used in routine practice.