2008 American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Annual Session Highlights Emerging Scientific Ad...( Pediatric Dentists Discuss the Poten...),Health

Pediatric Dentists Discuss the Potential of Saliva Diagnostics and Dental

Pulp Stem Cells in Advancing Pediatric Dental Care

WASHINGTON, May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), the recognized leader in pediatric oral health, is holding its 61st Annual Session this week in Washington, D.C. during which leading oral health experts from across the globe will discuss the latest advancements and research in pediatric oral health.

Two areas in which the pediatric dentistry community sees great potential in caring for children's teeth and addressing related systemic health issues include utilizing saliva to diagnose health and disease states and using dental stem cells for dental and facial repair and regeneration.

"These advances in dentistry are able to help us continue to address the systemic health issues that can result from dental care problems," said Dr. Keith Morley, president of the AAPD. "These capabilities may help pediatric dentists further reduce the burden of tooth decay -- a major epidemic in children."

Saliva Diagnostics

While saliva for clinical utilization is still a few years away, studies have shown that almost anything that can be measured in blood can be measured in saliva. According to researcher and meeting presenter David T. W. Wong, D.M.D., D.M.Sc., School of Dentistry and Dental Research Institute, the University of California, Los Angeles, saliva diagnostics may create the possibility of developing new ways of detecting and diagnosing health and disease states.

Additionally, testing saliva is minimally invasive and provides the ability to obtain quick and reliable results, even in remote settings. This ease of testing presents a great opportunity for pediatric dentists to both detect issues and start treatment earlier in more children. For example, dentists could more easily identify a child's susceptibility to caries (cavities) and begin fluoride tre
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