Saliva Protection and Transmissible Diseases

Saliva Protection and Transmissible Diseases provides a review of saliva protection, raising debate on micro-organisms potentially transmissible in saliva, and also considering the evidence on diseases that may be transmitted by kissing. Saliva is a complex body fluid essential to health, especially mastication, swallowing and speech, and hyposalivation can lead to dysfunction and even infection. More serious pathogens, such as herpes viruses and papillomaviruses can be conveyed by kissing, as can potentially lethal micro-organisms present in some saliva, such as meningococci, fungal organisms and Ebola viruses. - Stipulates the defensive roles of saliva, an important topic not previously reviewed in-depth in literature - Provides awareness that saliva also transmits infectious agents that can produce serious or even lethal diseases - Gives understanding that kissing may be an at-risk practice

Professor Scully was a Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Oral Health-General Health; King James IV Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Emeritus Professor, University College London (UCL). He was a Specialist in Oral Medicine, in Special Care Dentistry and in Oral Surgery. He was a Founder member of European Association for Oral Medicine and a Founder member of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences. He has the distinction of Commander of the British Empire (CBE) and he has been awarded several University Doctorates (Athens, Granada, Helsinki, Pretoria, Santiago de Compostela). Professor Scully was an Editor of Oral Diseases, and Medicina Oral Cirugía Oral Patología Bucal Associate Editor and was on the Editorial Boards of Acta-Oto-Laryngologica and Dental Update. He founded and was Editor of Oral Oncology. Professor Scully has presented continuing education programmes throughout the world and has published over 1000 scholarly works and 45 books (34 authored and 11 edited).