UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA. Researchers have been working on a study that aims to prove that saliva can also be as useful as blood samples to determine certain body ailments. This means you no longer have to go through another needle session for blood extraction because all it will take is a sample of your saliva. The recent study also suggests that salivary diagnostics could also play a very important role for early detection of different health problems such as autoimmune diseases, diabetes and even cancer which is a life-threatening condition.

The human saliva is composed of molecules. With the proper tools and knowledge, even proteins, DNA and RNA may be found in these molecules. Although the study of salivary diagnostics itself is considered as a relatively young field, diagnosis using biomarkers should be good enough to make it work accurately as needed. This is a very important medical breakthrough because it offers a non-invasive way to diagnose different disorders and conditions of patients with nothing more than their saliva samples.

The study is being led by UCLA researcher Dr. David Wong. Together with his team, they are developing new ways to enhance the use of salivary diagnostics in terms of diagnosing patients using this method. They are also studying whether the human saliva could be just as meaningful as blood in terms of diagnosing different medical conditions. This could actually mean that you dentists could be your next doctor. Who knows? Maybe you won’t have to step into your doctor’s exam room anymore? In the near future, there could be salivaomics deployed in your dentist’s office for a painless and more convenient way to detect any ailments before it gets any worse.