Testing Your Saliva for Cavities and HPV
Have you ever wondered what purpose your saliva serves? If you didn’t know, saliva helps break down food, neutralizes mouth acid, and even fights germs and bad breath. Your saliva also contains your DNA, which originates from the cells that shed from the inner lining of your mouth and white blood cells. Advanced technology is now allowing dental professionals to screen your saliva to identify biomarkers, proteins, and other genetic material that can reveal more about your health than you think.
What are Salivary Diagnostics?
Salivary diagnostics, or oral fluid testing, is performed on a saliva sample taken by your dentist. Your dentist will use a cotton swab to obtain the sample, making it a painless process. The sample is then sent to a lab, where it is screened for salivary biomarkers based on the services you requested. It can take anywhere from 21 days to 60 days to receive results back, which largely depends on the lab your sample is sent to, and what diagnostics you opt for.
You can discuss with your dentist which diagnostics should be performed in order to would like on your saliva to get the most out of your testing experience. OralDNA Labs provides many dentists including VP Dental with these salivary diagnostics. At OralDNA Labs, their screening services can predict cavities, gum disease, inflammation gene markers, HPV, and even STI’s like chlamydia and gonorrhea.
What are the Benefits of Oral Fluid Testing?
Your dental health has an impact on your overall health and well-being. In fact, oral health problems like bad breath have even been linked to heart disease. Undergoing salivary diagnostics gives dentists a tool to help them detect early signs of diseases that affect not only your oral health but also your systemic health.
Oral fluid testing at your dentist office can help you manage your dental and overall health. The benefits of getting your saliva tested at your next appointment include:
- • Identify Your Likeliness for Cavities – OralDNA Labs specifically offers a diagnostic test that identifies if your saliva contains the 3 strains of bacteria known to cause cavities.
- • Identify Your Likeliness of Contracting Gum Disease – Saliva testing can identify hidden oral pathogens that can cause gum disease. The same pathogens may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, and even birth complications.
- • Identify Gene Markers – Oral fluid testing can help identify if you were born with gene markers that associated with increased inflammation, which is a critical factor in the severity of periodontal, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
- • Periodontal Disease Treatment – If you have periodontal disease, oral fluid testing can help your dentist select the most effective treatment, and even measure results with a follow-up test.
- • HPV Awareness – Testing your saliva can reveal if you are at high-risk of contracting HPV types that are associated with oral cancer.
- • Test for Yeast and STI’s – Salivary diagnostics can also be used to test for different strains of yeast, and STI’s including chlamydia and herpes.
Whether you’re wanting to be preventative about your dental health, are trying to treat periodontal disease, or want to learn what your saliva has to say about your systemic health, salivary diagnostics offers a great solution for dental patients. Part of the perks of salivary diagnostics is that you can easily give a sample to your dentist at your next teeth cleaning. Investing in your oral and systemic health will keep you happy, healthy, and smiling for years to come.
Serving the North Raleigh area for 19 years, VP Dental is dedicated to treating each patient as an individual and focuses on total body health. The team stays current using the very latest in dental technology, wellness practices, and concierge dental care practices. Our goal is to create relationships that make people look and feel their best.
