Saliva as a Potential Diagnostic and Monitoring Tool in Diabetes Mellitus Saliva and diabetes

Abstract

The salivary fluid has an old history of study but its physiological importance has only been recognized recently. In the past 50 years, pace of salivary research has accelerated with advent of new techniques that have illuminated biochemical and physico-chemical properties of saliva. The recent introduction of molecular biology opens up, once again, new vistas and a new search of the role of salivary fluid as a potential diagnostic tool which has an added advantage of being non-invasive. The role of saliva in the diagnosis as well as monitoring of glycemic control has, also, been attracting attention of clinical researchers in recent times, although, results obtained have largely been conflicting. The present review gives an insight into the possible use of salivary fluid for monitoring of sera glucose levels and thus, in the detection of glycemic control in diabetic patients with evidence of its reliability based on the existing literature.