ADA Summit Weighs Path to Routine Salivary Diagnostics in Dentistry

Start Discussion
Posted: July 21, 2026

ADA Summit Weighs Path to Routine Salivary Diagnostics in Dentistry

Edited by Dentaltown staff

Dental researchers, clinicians, and industry leaders met at the American Dental Association in Chicago on June 18 to map what saliva-based testing would need before it can enter routine dental care, the ADA reported July 20.

The ADA Salivary Diagnostics Summit drew participants from dentistry, medicine, research, diagnostics, technology, investment, and insurance. Across presentations and group discussions, the central question shifted from whether saliva holds diagnostic potential to how the profession can build the standards, workflows, evidence-based guidance, and regulatory pathways needed to use salivary testing consistently.

Potential applications discussed included periodontal disease, caries, xerostomia, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Keynote speaker Débora Heller, immediate past president of the Salivary Research Group at the International Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research, said the field has reached an inflection point where technology has caught up with the underlying biology. “The science is here,” she said, urging the group to move it from evidence to implementation.

Heller described saliva as a protective factor in the mouth, supporting lubrication, acid neutralization, remineralization, and the oral microbiome, and said it can reflect broader health in real time. She noted that more than 42% of medications list dry mouth as a side effect and argued that without a salivary baseline, dentists remain in a reactive posture, waiting for symptoms to appear.

Maria Ryan, vice president and chief dental officer at Colgate, said saliva-based tools could help dentistry participate more fully in precision medicine by adding objective biochemical data to clinical exams, supporting risk assessment, patient education, and treatment monitoring.

Participants closed with broad agreement that salivary diagnostics show significant promise but that the profession must first define clear use cases, validate tests, establish reference ranges and clinical action pathways, and educate both dentists and patients before wide adoption.

Sources:
ADA News, “ADA summit examines future role of salivary biomarkers in dentistry,” July 20, 2026: adanews.ada.org/ada-summit-salivary-biomarkers


ADA Summit Weighs Path to Routine Salivary Diagnostics in Dentistry

Views: 14
Start Discussion
Dentaltown Magazine
July 2026
Dentaltown Magazine July 2026 Read Current Issue Read Archived Issues
Sponsors
Townie Perks
Townie® Poll
What do you use to take routine X-rays?