Introduction: A biomarker is a biological indicator of normal or pathogenic processes. Identification of biomarkers is useful for the prevention, diagnosis and prognosis of diseases as well as for monitoring the progression of pathological disorders. Several types of molecules present in biological fluids can act as biomarkers such as DNA, coding and non-coding RNA, lipids, metabolites, proteins and even microbes. In this context, saliva emerges as a useful diagnostic tool for the detection of biomarkers involved with oral and systemic diseases, since it reflects the pathophysiological conditions of the organism and allows early, rapid, practical and noninvasive detection of biomarkers.Areas covered: This review discusses the properties of saliva as a diagnostic tool and addresses the main identified biomarkers related to dental caries, periodontal disease, head and neck cancer and other types of cancer of considerable incidence among the world population.Expert commentary: Despite extensive efforts which have been directed toward the identification of one or a combination of biomarkers with good predictive values for the early detection of dental caries, periodontal disease and cancer, these biomarkers still need validation before chairside point-of-care devices can be widely used in the clinic.

中文翻译：

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唾液作为龋齿、牙周病和癌症的诊断工具：是否需要更多的生物标志物？

简介：生物标志物是正常或致病过程的生物学指标。生物标志物的鉴定对于疾病的预防、诊断和预后以及监测病理障碍的进展是有用的。生物体液中存在的几种类型的分子可以作为生物标志物，例如 DNA、编码和非编码 RNA、脂质、代谢物、蛋白质甚至微生物。在这种情况下，唾液成为检测与口腔和全身疾病有关的生物标志物的有用诊断工具，因为它反映了生物体的病理生理状况，并允许对生物标志物进行早期、快速、实用和无创检测。 涵盖领域：本综述讨论了唾液作为诊断工具的特性，并讨论了与龋齿相关的主要已识别生物标志物，