[Developments of assays in oral fluids to support diagnosis of periodontitis]

The diagnosis of periodontitis is traditionally based on clinical and radiographic examinations in combination with an anamnesis. For dentists, but possibly also for non-dental care providers, more and more other methods are being developed that could be useful for supporting currently used diagnostics as well as periodontal screening purposes. This includes the analysis of biomarkers in oral fluids such as saliva, oral rinses and gingival crevicular fluid. For example, there is a commercial test, based on the analysis of MMP-8 in oral rinses, to disprove or confirm suspicions of periodontal inflammation. In addition, recent research shows that the combination of MMP-8 and chitinase in oral rinses has superior discrimination capabilities to the analysis of MMP-8 or chitinase alone. Although diagnosis using saliva, gingival crevicular fluid and oral rinses appears to be a promising alternative for detecting periodontal inflammation, probing remains the gold standard in the oral care practice.