title: Cultural, behavioral, social, and psychological perceptions of saliva: relevance to clinical diagnostics.
abstract: The search for a resource that can be used to detect a broad range of diseases easily and reliably is akin to a search for the diagnostic Holy Grail. Yet, each of us may have inside our mouths, a key to the pathological and disease biomarker library hidden inside our bodies. Saliva--the source of all this information--is the secretory product of glands located in or around the oral cavity. If one could read the stories of diagnostic information present within saliva, then the abundance of information waiting to be found could be comparable to a vast vault of information, such as the Internet. Upon dissection of this data, it would be seen that the source of this information is from saliva's origin as a filtrate of blood, and that the validity of both mediums should be equal. Although one day this may be the view, most people's hold of saliva, current and past cultures, have fared much more diverse meanings to the secretion. Ivan Pavlov's experiments has shown how closely tied salivation is with the thought of food, one of life's primary indulgences. The relationship between salivation and behaviors within our daily lives is undeniable. Yet most people never appreciate the uniqueness of saliva. Throughout the world, saliva carries definite positive and negative connotations, based upon its social, psychological, behavioral, and cultural settings. The thought of saliva may be viewed as grotesque in one population, yet may be the vehicle of blessing in other cultures. Saliva's double nature brings up some interesting cultural, social, behavioral, and psychological points about how saliva is perceived in the world, some of which are subsequently stated in order to present saliva as the spirited fluid it is.
authors.affiliation: University of California Los Angeles School of Dentistry, USA.
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: David T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D002562:Ceremonial Behavior; D003469:Culture; D019937:Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000382:microbiology