Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease affecting the connective tissue attachment and supporting bone around the teeth whose initiation and progression are dependent on the presence of virulent microorganisms capable of causing the disease and the host response to pathogenic infection. In today’s clinical practice, the current clinical diagnostics parameters like bleeding on probing, pocket depth, bone loss, gingival inflammation and plaque index measure disease severity rather than measuring disease activity and fails to identify the highly susceptible individuals who are at risk for disease progression. With the evolution of biomarkers, these limitations have been overcome. Various biological media like saliva, GCF are used to determine biomarkers in periodontal health and disease. This article presents an overview of the value of saliva as a reliable diagnostic tool and the role of various salivary biomarkers in physiological and pathological conditions with emphasis on its association with periodontal disease.
