It can take a lot of time and money to determine if someone has cancer, but one Houston researcher is very close to getting a patent on a simple saliva test.

The diagnosis of some cancers could soon happen at the dentist’s office during a routine visit.

This research at the UT-Houston dental school could soon lead to early detection of cancer.

“we would be able to tell the tumor at the smallest stage about the size of a pea,” Dr. Charles Streckfus said.

Valerie Buchanan’s breast cancer wasn’t diagnosed until it was nearly stage II even though she thought for months something was wrong.

“I feel like it would have been early stage one if we’d had the opportunity to spit in a cup and find out right away,” Buchanan said.

Dr. Streckfus began looking for breast cancer markers in saliva 15 years ago.

The experimental test requires a patient to chew a piece of sugarless, flavorless gum and then spit into a cup.

That’s enough saliva for scientists to detect breast cancer and to determine if it’s spread to the lymph nodes.

The same test offers hope for early detection of other cancers such as lung, prostate, ovarian and cervical cancer as well as cancer of the head and neck.

“It would be like a grain of salt in a bucket,” Dr. Streckfus said.  

The hope is to have an FDA-approved saliva test in the dentist’s office within the next five years. Technology has now advanced far enough to allow scientists to find the proverbial needle in a haystack.