Salivary Gland Disorders

promising research coming out of UCLA’s School of Dentistry suggests that salivary diagnostics–or “salivaomics”–could become a potent resource for early detection of a broad range of potential health problems like autoimmune diseases, diabetes and even life-threatening conditions like cancer.
In a paper published in the Journal of the American Dental Association, UCLA researcher Dr. David Wong describes his research into the biological makeup of saliva and the various indicators of health that live there. Human saliva is made up of molecules, after all, and in those complex molecules doctors or dentists looking for the right things can find everything from proteins to DNA to RNA–or basically the entire genome and a slew of other supporting characters. With these molecules identified and isolated researchers can then apply any number of scientific tools to them–things like gemomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics (putting the “omics” in “salivaomics”).
Science, Clay Dillow, dentistry, diagnostic medicine, health, medical diagnostics, medicine, salivaomicsSalivary diagnostics itself is a relatively young field, but diagnosis through biomarkers is not and that’s essentially what this is. The difference, of course, is that it is extremely non-invasive, requiring nothing more than a saliva sample. Wong and associates think saliva could be just as meaningful as blood and other bodily fluids in diagnosing a range of conditions and disorders.
The authors note that 20 percent more Americans see their dentists more often than their doctors, so salivaomics deployed in the dentist’s office could become an effective tool for early detection of any number of common ailments–without the patient ever stepping foot in the doctor’s exam room. That means your dentist could soon become the first line of diagnostic defense against conditions affecting not just your oral health but your entire body.

Many health indicators are right in front of a dentist, according to a new study.

Dr. David Wong, a researcher from UCLA, states that dentists can pinpoint health indicators simply by studying the saliva of their patients. A wide array of health conditions can be determined, including cancer.

Wong’s research appears in the Journal of the American Dental Association. He claims that much can be learned from a mouth-swab procedure, which is not invasive. There is no pain that results and it will cause little, if any, discomfort for the patient.

The reason the study of saliva should be more prevalent is because more people see their dentist than their doctor.

If diseases are detected early through saliva study, a person may have time to be cured of a health problem before deteriorating. If some diseases are detected too late, little can be done to thwart the impact.

Oral cancer has become more prevalent in recent years but many cases are not detected until reaching an advanced stage. At this point, it is often too late to cure.

The analysis of saliva isn’t taking place enough, according to Wong. He claims that it could become more widespread and it may be more convenient than other diagnostic tests on bodily fluids.