The medical term xerostomia refers to the subjective sensation of oral dryness. The etiology seems to be multifactorial with the most frequently reported causes being the use of xerostomic medications, neck and head radiation, and systematic diseases (such as Sjögren’s syndrome). Xerostomia is associated with an increased incidence of dental caries, oral fungal infections, and difficulties in speaking and chewing/swallowing, which ultimately affect the oral health-related quality of life. The development of successful management schemes is regarded as a highly challenging project due to the complexity of saliva. This is why, in spite of the fact that there are therapeutic options aiming to improve salivary function, most management approaches are alleviation-oriented. In any case, polymers are an integral part of the various formulations used in every current treatment approach, especially in the saliva substitutes, due to their function as thickening and lubricating agents or, in the case of mucoadhesive polymers, their ability to prolong the treatment effect. In this context, the present review aims to scrutinize the literature and presents an overview of the role of various polymers (or copolymers) on either already commercially available formulations or novel drug delivery systems currently under research and development.

Introduction: Laboratory testing for the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus and the consequent respiratory coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) is categorized into methods that detect the viral presence and methods that detect antibodies produced in the host as a response to infection. Methods that detect viral presence into the host excretions measure current infection by SARS‐CoV‐2, whereas the detection of human antibodies exploited against SARS‐CoV‐2 evaluates the past exposure to the virus.Objective: This review provides a comprehensive overview for the use of saliva as a specimen for the detection of SARS‐CoV‐2, the methods for the salivary diagnostics utilized till very recently, and the arisen considerations for the diagnosis of COVID‐19 disease.Conclusion: The major advantage of using saliva as a specimen for the detection of SARS‐CoV‐2 is that saliva collection is a non‐invasive method which produces no discomfort to the patient and permits the patients to utilize home self‐sampling techniques in order to protect health providers from the exposure to the pathogen. There is an urgent need to increase the active research for the detection of SARS‐CoV‐2 in the saliva because the non‐invasive salivary diagnostics may provide a reliable and cost‐effective method suitable for the fast and early detection of COVID‐19 infection.