Main Content
- Saliva as a disease diagnostic tool
- Saliva therapeutics
- Saliva as a potential biomarker
- Application in molecular genetics
- As an advanced career option in genomic technology
The program started with the introductory session held in the presence of the chief guest Prof.VSRamamurthy who spoke about saliva being non-invasive specimen sample for various radical procedures. The panel on the Dias included Prof. VS Ramamurthy,Dr.JillLMaron,Dr.ManogariChetty, Dr.GargiRoyGoswami with Dr.PaulDSlowey on video conference from the United States. The first scientific session was with Dr.PaulDSlowey who addressed the delegates via video conference. He talked about the importanceofsaliva anditssubcellularcomponentswhichcanbeanalternativeto biopsy especially the use of salivary exosomes. The session was quite fascinating as this was the first of the many sessions which put forth the idea of saliva as a specimen to detect tumors. The second session was about using salivaasadiagnostic specimeninneonates. The session was conducted by Dr.JillLMaron who basically focused on how genetic abnormality can be detected in preterm babies with less than 10µL of saliva. Topic on preeclampsia was also covered by ma’am regarding its occurrence and prevention. Following session was delivered by Dr.ManogariChetty from Cape Town, South Africa. She drew parallels between AfricanandIndianhealthconditions&facilities with special focus on the needforresearch and motivated students to take up research as a career. She mostly focused on the use and needofgenetics in dentistry especially the genetic predisposition for head and neck pathologies. Dr.SonaleeShah from Raipur put forth her research of isolationofbiomarkersfromsalivaryspecimen andhow thatcan beused todetectheadandneck cancers. 
Dr.SheshaPrasad from Bengaluru presented in front of the delegates about salivarymiRNAwhichgets expressedin OSMF and how can it be used for early detection of the pre-cancerous condition. A broad picture about the history,epidemiology,pathology&physiologyofarecanut,its composition, addictiveness and all its harmful effects were given by specialist in head and neck cancersDr.Apurva Garg from Kolkata. The final session of day 1 was held by Dr.RajendraVEChilukuri from Hyderbad who is a forensic specialist. He presented interesting criminal case records where the culprits were apprehended by salivaryforensic examination of a distant relative. The second day of the conference was packed to the brim with sessions starting with Dr. SuchetraKumari who spoke about salivarylipidome which mainly concentrated on the biochemical aspect of saliva and how it is useful in all aspects of diagnosis. The next speaker Dr.TedKS delivered his session on salivarybiomarkersandphysicalmorbidityin dementia through video conference. His talk was based on the data accumulated & processed in his research, various methodologies and the results obtained by his team. 
For a dentist saliva can become an excellent biomarker and a potential diagnostic tool to rule out any malignancy on a level 1 diagnosis criteria. Presence of specific immunoglobulins in saliva can act as an early detector for OSMF, OLP, erythroplakia, leukoplakia and like diseases. Salivary diagnostics also has the major role in ruling out different systemic disorders like cardiovascular diseases, renal impairments which further broadens the treatment protocol for the dentist Early diagnosis and staging of squamous cell carcinoma with the diagnostic tools used in just said will not only help in creating awareness among the patient but also generating knowledge about the progression of the disease. The second day of the conference was winded up with a small competition called KRRIA where students from different colleges and fields participated with the innovative research ideas like ideas for cancer detection using magnetic polarity and size of Cancer cells in the circulating blood through a device costing around $1, ideas about detecting various kinds of infection with the entire research under a budget of $500, manufacturing Tb specific mouth masks for the use of dentists, etc. A short period of paper presentation by UG, PG MDS faculties was the endings session which covered various innovative topics. 
The innovative saliva symposium 2020 was a conference well worth attending which not only has enlightened our way of approach but also and enriched us with immense knowledge about saliva and its utility in our respective fields.
