Preface

**Section 3 New Approaches in the Treatment of Salivary Gland**

Chapter 7 **Salivary Effects of Facial Vibrotactile Stimulation in Patients with Sjogren's Syndrome and Poor Salivation 105** Koichiro Ueda, Kanako Gora, Masaru Yamaoka, Takako Sato, Kimiko Abe, Enri Nakayama, Mituyasu Sato, Yumiko Tunoda, Sumiko Akatuka, Sayaka Fukui, Akinari Hayashi, Teruyuki Hirai,

Sayako Ohnishi, Mayumi Hayata and Hisao Hiraba

Iordanis Konstantinidis, Angelos Chatziavramidis and Ioannis

Chapter 8 **Combined Approaches in Sialolithiasis of Major**

**Salivary Glands 117**

Iakovou

**Diseases 103**

**VI** Contents

Saliva is a complex fluid that maintains oral health and possesses important functions in lubrication, digestion, taste perception and speech. Moreover, saliva is a potential noninva‐ sive diagnostic fluid, which provides valuable diagnostic information for detecting numer‐ ous diseases. Thanks to the advances in diagnostic methods, the number of studies using salivary analysis in the diagnosis of various diseases and conditions has increased tremen‐ dously. As evidence from recent research accumulates, salivary diagnostics will become more easily accepted by clinicians and patients.

*Salivary Glands - New Approaches in Diagnostics and Treatment* is a comprehensive reference, which brings together information on salivary secretion and its disorders, as well as novel diagnostic methods for numerous diseases with the use of salivary secretions, and new tech‐ niques in the treatment of salivary diseases. Therefore, this book contains a source of informa‐ tion for a diverse audience, such as researchers of basic science and clinicians of surgical and medical sciences, including dentists, oral biologists, experimental biologists, molecular biolo‐ gists, oncologists, radiologists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, and otorhinolaryngologists.

In the first three chapters of the book, a basic understanding of salivary secretion is provid‐ ed along with a description and management of conditions that decrease or increase the amount of saliva. The next section of the book introduces the reader to salivary diagnostics, a new diagnostic approach that has the potential to reach clinical practice in the near future for the early detection, diagnosis, and monitoring of many diseases, such as cancer, human papillomavirus infections, dental problems, diabetes, heart diseases, Sjögren's syndrome, and even neurological and psychiatric disorders. Afterwards, the proteomics of saliva are described in detail. Next, scintigraphic techniques for the functional diagnosis of salivary diseases and for distinguishing salivary tumors are discussed. The last two chapters de‐ scribe a combined endoscopic procedure used in recent years in the treatment of sialolithia‐ sis and a novel method, facial vibrotactile stimulation, for the increase of salivation.

I would like to sincerely thank my husband Erkan Güvenç for his patience, my mother Emel Adadan who was always beside me whenever she was needed, and our nanny Ellie Mikrut who took great care of my dearest Kaan for sacrificing their time and supporting me in mak‐ ing this book happen.

> **Işıl Adadan Güvenç, MD** Cigli Regional Education Hospital Izmir, Turkey

**Section 1**

**Salivary Glands and its Diseases**

**Salivary Glands and its Diseases**

**Chapter 1**

**Provisional chapter**

**Secretions of Human Salivary Gland**

**Secretions of Human Salivary Gland**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.75538

The salivary glands play an important role in our body by the virtue of its ability to secrete saliva. Saliva has a role to play in maintaining the health of the oral cavity and for carrying out physiological functions like mastication, taste perception, speech etc. It also acts as a mirror to the systemic status of an individual owing to its ability to act as a diagnostic fluid for detecting a number of conditions and diseases. Saliva is a potential noninvasive diagnostic fluid for detection of a number of biomarkers of disease and health. Advancement in diagnostic methods has helped in identifying biomarkers of disease in saliva. In order to understand and diagnose pathological changes, a thorough understanding of the salivary gland anatomy, physiology and regulation of its secretion is warranted. This chapter aims to provide the basic understanding of the secretions of saliva.

Salivary glands are organs which synthesize and secrete their secretions over an epithelial surface via a hollow channel. These glands are present in and around the oral cavity and its

The salivary glands can be classified as major and minor salivary glands. The major salivary glands, located outside the oral cavity include the parotid salivary gland, submandibular/ submaxillary salivary gland and sublingual salivary gland. The minor salivary glands are

secretions play an important role in the physiological processes of the oral cavity [1].

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

**Keywords:** saliva, secretion, salivary gland, diagnostic fluid

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.75538

Anahita Punj

Anahita Punj

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

**2. Overview of salivary glands**

#### **Secretions of Human Salivary Gland Secretions of Human Salivary Gland**

#### Anahita Punj Anahita Punj

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.75538

**Abstract**

The salivary glands play an important role in our body by the virtue of its ability to secrete saliva. Saliva has a role to play in maintaining the health of the oral cavity and for carrying out physiological functions like mastication, taste perception, speech etc. It also acts as a mirror to the systemic status of an individual owing to its ability to act as a diagnostic fluid for detecting a number of conditions and diseases. Saliva is a potential noninvasive diagnostic fluid for detection of a number of biomarkers of disease and health. Advancement in diagnostic methods has helped in identifying biomarkers of disease in saliva. In order to understand and diagnose pathological changes, a thorough understanding of the salivary gland anatomy, physiology and regulation of its secretion is warranted. This chapter aims to provide the basic understanding of the secretions of saliva.

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.75538

**Keywords:** saliva, secretion, salivary gland, diagnostic fluid
