But Granger also noted that spit tests will never replace blood tests. Levels of certain enzymes, proteins or hormones in blood might not have the same correlation in spit. Other times doctors need to test a full panel of different components found in blood, which can't be done with spit.
"People want to measure things in saliva because they want to use it for a surrogate marker for what's in your blood," Granger said. "That is not always the case."
Stephen Schenkel, chairman of the emergency department at Mercy Medical Center, said spit tests aren't used much because of their limitations, but he noted a general movement for less invasive medicine. Doctors are taking smaller vials of blood in children and a drop of blood now can be used to test blood sugar.
He said new spit testing should be cost-effective.
"For the most part blood is not that hard to get and most blood testing is fairly inexpensive," Schenkel said. "If they're doing it just because people are squeamish, that is not a good reason to do it."
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