Year: 2026 | Month: August | Volume: 13 | Issue: 8 | Pages: 509-516
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20260853
Salivary Biomarkers in the Early Diagnosis of Oral Diseases
Dr. Brahmleen Kaur1, Arjun Mahajan2
1PG 2ND Year Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, 2BDS 3RD Year Student,
Genesis Institute of Dental Sciences and Research, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Ferozepur, India
Corresponding Author: Dr. Brahmleen Kaur
ABSTRACT
Early diagnosis can reduce morbidity from oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), prevent irreversible periodontal destruction, and target preventive care for dental caries. Saliva is an attractive diagnostic matrix because it is collected repeatedly and non-invasively and contains proteins, enzymes, cytokines, nucleic acids, metabolites, microorganisms, and extracellular vesicles (EVs) originating from glands, gingival crevicular fluid, mucosal transudate, blood, and local lesions. This review appraises salivary biomarkers for OSCC and oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs), caries, periodontal diseases, oral lichen planus (OLP), Sjögren syndrome, peri-implant disease, infections, and temporomandibular disorders. Across diseases, inflammatory proteins and matrix metalloproteinases show the most reproducible group differences. Messenger RNA, microRNA, methylation, broaden biological coverage but largely remain discovery-stage. For periodontitis, active MMP-8 is closest to chairside translation, but moderate discrimination precludes replacement of periodontal examination. Caries biomarkers currently support risk assessment rather than lesion diagnosis. Pre-analytical variation, confounding, inconsistent definitions, small samples, and poor reporting impede transportability. Salivary diagnostics are best positioned as adjunctive triage, risk, and monitoring tools.
Keywords: Saliva, Autoimmune diseases, Dental caries, Periodontal diseases, Salivary biomarkers
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