Salivary Protein Arrays for Periodontal Disease Detection

Current diagnostic measures that were introduced more than half a century ago continue to function as the basic model for periodontal diagnosis in clinical practice today. They include various parameters such as probing pocket depths, bleeding on probing, clinical attachment levels, plaque index, and radiographs quantifying alveolar bone levels. Albeit easy to use, cost-effective and relatively non-invasive, clinical attachment loss evaluation by the periodontal probe measures damage from past episodes of destruction and requires a 2- to 3-mm threshold change before a site with significant breakdown can be identified. Furthermore, the use of subtraction radiography offers means to detect minute changes in alveolar bone calcium content. These measures, however, are rarely seen in dental clinical practice today. Moreover, they lack the capacity to identify highly susceptible patients who are at risk for future breakdown.

The diagnosis of active phases of periodontal disease and the identification of patients at risk for active disease represents challenges for clinical investigators and practitioners. Therefore, researchers involved in periodontal disease diagnostics are currently investigating the possible use of oral fluids such as whole saliva for disease diagnosis. The detection of putative salivary biomarkers for periodontal diagnosis may help to identify sites with indication for further attachment loss and consequently enable early intervention before periodontal breakdown would become significant.