Achievement: To the best of our knowledge, for the first time CSIR-CMERI has prepared a salivary fluoride detection kit at an affordable cost. The diagnosis will be solely on human saliva however it should not be generalized as fluoride detection from water. The Salivary Fluoride detection kit will diagnose fluoride levels in saliva by colourimetric method. The provided colour scale has been developed after thorough standardization. Unlike costly-corrosive chemosensors, this chemosensor is low-cost, very easy to synthesize, non-toxic and non-corrosive in nature. Apart from the solution kit, a sensor station has been designed and fabricated by synchronization of colourimetric response with electronics. This sensor station could be deployed in any rural health centre or primary school as a kiosk for batch-scale analysis of saliva specimens.

Methodology: A very easy and consumer-friendly guideline has been provided with the kit by which any non-expertise can check the fluoride level in their own saliva. The methodology is shown here by the pictorial diagram. Initially, the patients have to spit in vial-1 and then add the solution from vial-2 into vial-1. Mix it and shake for 5 seconds. The obtained colour transition has to be then compared with the provided colour scale. The colour scale will indicate whether the patient is safe or unsafe in terms of fluoride level. After treatment, the vial-2 (containing saliva and chemosensor) has to be discarded in the sanitary pan. Soap paper is also supplied inside the kit for washing of hands after testing.

Ref: Indian patent granted on 25-05-2018, Patent number: IN201611039325