Assessment of salivary biomarkers in gingivitis: A systematic review

Background: Gingivitis is earliest and reversible stage of periodontitis, which is asymptomatic in early stages. Bleeding on probing as diagnosis is very subjective and cannot capture underlying pathophysiology & staging of disease properly. Saliva is a non-invasive & easily accessible fluid for diagnosis & identifying biomarkers for gingival inflammation.Objective: To validate the diagnostic & prognostic utility of salivary biomarkers in the detection and assessment of gingivitis in human subjects.Materials and Methods: This systematic review was carried out according to PRISMA declaration (PROSPERO registration no: CRD 420251086380). A comprehensive literature search was conducted for studies published from 1st january 2000 to 5th July 2025, using the following databases: Pubmed, MEDLINE, Science direct, Willey online library, Google Scholar, EBSCO, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane library.Results: Majority of the study results showed that all the assays demonstrated significantly higher salivary MMP- 8 concentrations in participants with gingivitis patientsConclusion: The use of salivary biomarkers could provide a promising non-invasive diagnostic adjunct for gingivitis diagnosis.