Personalized medicine: an update of salivary biomarkers for periodontal diseases

This article provides an up-to-date review of the more robust salivary biomarkers, as well as of panels of combinatorial markers and periodontal pathogens, that reveal high sensitivity and specificity for enhancing clinical decision-making in periodontal disease progression, risk and diagnosis. Periodontal diseases are complex and require an inflammatory response to bacterial pathogens in a susceptible host to stimulate tissue destruction. When used alone, traditional clinical assessments provide a diagnosis of periodontitis only after the biologic onset of the disease process, and are unable to substantiate disease activity or future risk. New technologies are becoming available that are capable of measuring combinations of inflammatory cytokines and proteinases for rapid chair-side testing. Utilizing saliva to identify and measure specific phenotypes and host-derived mediators will allow highly individualized diagnosis, prognosis and treatments for periodontal diseases. This personalized medicine approach will strengthen the power of the clinical oral examination and medical history assessments, providing patients with evidence-based, targeted risk care.