Saliva is one of the most ideal diagnostic tools. It is inexpensive, noninvasive, and easy to use. Other advantages like ease of collection and minimal patient discomfort make it more acceptable to the patient as well as the clinician. The most challenging aspect in salivary diagnostics is to identify the biomarker that is linked to a disease. Researches are also ongoing to develop a device that can have reliable and valid clinical applications. This chapter briefly discusses the background and current scope of salivary diagnostics, technologies for the discovery of biomarkers along with a summary of salivary sample collection, and processing methods.
Part of the book: Saliva and Salivary Diagnostics