Periodontal disease is linked to 57 unique systemic diseases.
It never stopped at your gums. The bacteria behind gum disease sit at the center of research reaching into the heart, blood sugar, pregnancy, joints and the brain — and almost nobody has ever had them measured. The Oral Balance Test names sixteen of them from one saliva sample you collect at home.
$149 launch price through Oct 31 · was $199 · one-time · ships free
Not yet available in AK, CA, CT, HI, MD, MA, NJ, NY, RI.
What that list actually looks like
57 conditions.
Cardiovascular disease, diabetes and preterm birth are the ones people have heard of. The same mapping also turned up anemia, liver disease and ankylosing spondylitis — an idea of how wide this research has gone.
- cardiovascular disease
- type 2 diabetes
- alzheimer's disease
- rheumatoid arthritis
- adverse pregnancy outcomes
- chronic kidney disease
- respiratory disease
- metabolic syndrome
- osteoporosis
- certain cancers
- erectile dysfunction
- non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
- anemia
- ankylosing spondylitis
A sample of the conditions studied — not the full published list.
It doesn't stop at your gums.
Monsarrat P, et al. Clinical research activity in periodontal medicine: a systematic mapping of trial registers. J Clin Periodontol. 2016;43(5):390–400.
The Oral Balance Test measures the bacteria in your saliva. It does not diagnose gum disease, cavities, or any of the conditions named above, and it is not a substitute for dental or medical care. Evidence is far stronger for some of these associations than others — the next section labels each one.
Fifty-seven conditions studied. Very different amounts of evidence behind them.
A number that big only means something if you can see inside it. Each association below carries its evidence tier — the same labels the report uses, so the page and the document you receive say the same thing.
The common thread is inflammation. Periodontal organisms drive it in the gums, and inflammation is the mechanism researchers point to when they look for effects further away. That is why one saliva measurement is relevant to more than one system — and why it measures bacteria, not any of these conditions.
Heart & blood-vessel health
The most studied connection on the list, and the one with the most behind it. Several organisms on this panel have been repeatedly associated with cardiovascular disease, with inflammation as the leading explanation — gum inflammation feeding the low-grade, body-wide inflammation involved in narrowing of the arteries. The American Heart Association recognizes an association between gum disease and heart disease.
Paul 2021 · Sanz 2020 · Genco & Sanz 2020
Blood sugar & metabolic health
This one runs in both directions: poorly controlled blood sugar can worsen gum inflammation, and the inflammation from periodontal bacteria can make blood sugar harder to control. If you have diabetes or prediabetes, it's a connection worth raising with whoever manages it.
Preshaw 2012, Diabetologia
Pregnancy outcomes
Maternal gum health has a long-documented link to preterm birth and low birth weight. Two things are thought to be at work — body-wide inflammation, and the ability of some oral organisms to travel beyond the mouth. F. nucleatum in particular has been studied here.
Daalderop 2018, JDR Clin Trans Res
Brain health & memory
Certain oral bacteria — P. gingivalis in particular — have been connected to brain health and the inflammation involved in conditions like Alzheimer's. Active, still-developing research, not a settled conclusion.
Dominy 2019, Sci Adv
Joints & body-wide inflammation
The bacteria that inflame gums may contribute to inflammation elsewhere, and researchers are studying links to inflammatory joint conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. Evidence here is still emerging.
Hajishengallis 2015, Nat Rev Immunol
Colorectal health
F. nucleatum — the subspecies measured here — has been found enriched in colorectal tumor tissue. This is not a cancer test and says nothing on its own about your colon; the bacterium is common in the mouth. Age-appropriate screening remains the reliable step here.
Zepeda-Rivera 2024, Nature · Castellarin 2012 · Brennan & Garrett 2019
How to read the labels: well-established means the association is strong and repeatedly confirmed in research; supported means the evidence is consistent and growing; emerging means the link is biologically plausible but still under active study.
None of these describe your personal likelihood of developing any condition — only whether the organisms studied in connection with it were found in your sample. The Oral Balance Test measures your oral microbiome; it does not diagnose gum disease, cavities, or any medical condition, and it is not a substitute for medical or dental care.
Four scores, not one number.
The report doesn't hand you a single wellness rating. It separates the load pushing toward inflammation, the defenses holding it back, and one functional capacity most people have never had measured — because those three move independently, and which one is off changes what you'd do about it.
Inflammatory load
The organisms associated with periodontal inflammation, each named and levelled. This is the side the systemic research is about, and the side you can put a number on today.
Protective reserve
A healthy mouth isn't one without harmful bacteria — it's one with enough good ones. Protective Capacity is part of why the same bacterial load affects two people differently.
Nitric-oxide capacity
The functional one. We target the narG gene that performs the nitrate conversion, so the score reflects what your microbiome can actually do rather than which species happen to be present.
One sample. Four steps.
No appointment, no lab visit, no fasting.
Order your kit
Buy online and we ship a complete saliva collection kit to your door — free.
Collect at home
Follow the simple instructions to give a small saliva sample. About two minutes, no appointment, no swab and no blood.
Mail it back
Seal it in the prepaid return envelope and drop it in the mail. It heads straight to our CLIA-certified lab in Norman, Oklahoma.
Read your results
About a week from the day you mail it — most of that is transit, since your sample is processed within 2 business days of reaching our lab. Your full Balance Report lands in your private OraPath account.
Every organism named, every claim tiered.
No wall of numbers and no unqualified claims. You can read the entire five-page sample report before you order — including the systemic page and the limits it states about itself.
- A page on systemic associations Heart, blood sugar, brain, joints and colorectal — each labeled by evidence strength and cited, with the ones relevant to your sample first.
- One headline score, then the reasons An Oral Balance Score out of 100, then the three subscores that produced it — so the summary never hides which side moved.
- Protective capacity and disruptive pressure Your defense on one side, your bacterial load on the other — the pairing is the part that actually explains your result.
- All sixteen organisms, individually Including P. gingivalis and F. nucleatum — the two that most of the systemic research is actually about — with a plain-language read on each.
Common questions
Does this test tell me whether I'll get one of those 57 conditions?
No, and nothing can. Those 57 are conditions researchers have studied in connection with periodontal disease — a map of where the research has gone, not a list of outcomes waiting for you. What the Balance Test does is measure the bacteria those studies are about, in your mouth, right now. That's a starting point for a conversation with your dentist and your doctor, not a forecast.
My gums don't bleed and my last cleaning was fine. Is there anything here for me?
Possibly — that's the reason to measure rather than assume. A visual exam and a probe find what's already happened to the tissue. A bacterial panel describes what's present now, which is a different question. Plenty of people with unremarkable exams carry meaningful levels of the organisms on this panel, and plenty of people with symptoms have a protective side that's holding up better than they'd guess.
Is this a diagnosis?
No. The Balance Test measures bacteria in your saliva. It doesn't diagnose gum disease, cavities, or any medical condition, and it isn't a substitute for a dental exam. The systemic connections described here are associations reported in research, not conclusions about you specifically. Your results are meant to be reviewed by a professional alongside an examination and your history — bring your report to your next appointment and go through it together.
If I find something, what can I actually do about it?
The report is built to be actionable: it separates the bacterial load from your protective reserve, so you and your dentist can tell whether the useful move is reducing pressure, rebuilding defenses, or both. Then you retest and see whether it moved. Most people tracking a change retest at 60 to 90 days, then settle into roughly every six months once things are stable.
How long until I get results?
Your report is ready within 2 business days of your sample reaching our lab — about a week from the day you mail it, once transit both ways is counted. You'll get it in your private OraPath account.
How accurate is an at-home saliva test?
It's the same validated test dental practices order — run in our own CLIA-certified, COLA-accredited lab on the sample you collect. Saliva collection is simple and hard to get wrong, and the lab work is identical to an in-office order. The Oral Balance Test is a validated Laboratory-Developed Test; it has not been cleared or approved by the FDA.
Which states do you ship to?
We ship the at-home Balance Test to most US states, but not yet to AK, CA, CT, HI, MD, MA, NJ, NY, RI. Those states apply extra requirements to at-home lab testing, and we've held them back from this first launch rather than cut corners. We're working through them.
If you're in one of those states and want the test, ask your dental practice — they can order OraPath panels for you directly.
Also from OraPath
Ora-Protek daily oral probiotic
A daily dissolvable lozenge with 16 clinically studied probiotic strains, including BLIS K12 and M18. Ships to all fifty states — including the states the test can't reach yet. Multi-bottle pricing from $25.00 per bottle.
Stop guessing which side of that research you're on.
One saliva sample, collected at home in about two minutes, names the organisms the systemic research is actually about, scores the protective reserve holding them back, and gives you a baseline to measure the next ninety days against.
Results in your private OraPath account · not a diagnosis — meant to be reviewed with your dentist alongside an exam.