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Facts About Saliva Drug Tests

Testing for the presence of drugs can be accomplished in many ways. Previously, blood tests, urine tests, or hair follicle tests have been used for drug testing. Saliva testing, however, is extremely accurate without being invasive like blood testing or as time consuming as hair follicle testing.

  1. Definition

    • Saliva blood tests operate by checking for tiny residual amounts of drugs within the saliva. The person being tested wets the test strip with their saliva, and the test shows results using colored bands. Saliva tests check for the presence of opiates, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and phencyclidine drugs. Any trace of one of these drugs will cause the band corresponding to that drug to change color. A drug-free result would show no color at all.

    Purpose

    • Saliva tests are used primarily for employment drug screenings. Federal mandates require screening for each of the drugs detected by the saliva testing prior to employment. The convenience and quick results make saliva testing an attractive choice for employers.

    Benefits

    • Saliva tests can be performed in any location and do not require a professional nurse or lab technician to conduct the test or read the results. In addition, the results appear very quickly and can be read within five minutes. They are a low-cost, and non-invasive alternative to sending potential employees to a lab for drug testing and also are virtually impossible to trick.

    Considerations

    • Traces of the drugs will only show in the saliva for 10 to 24 hrs after use. For this reason, a long-term drug user who stays 'clean' for a few days before testing will appear to be completely drug free. In addition, while it is very difficult to trick a saliva test, it is possible to mask the traces of drugs by smoking cigarettes or eating certain foods.

    Comparisons

    • Hair follicle testing shows the history of a person's drug use, but the testing is not virtually instantaneous as with the saliva testing. Urine testing is more easily faked than a saliva test, but traces of drugs show in a urine test for a longer period of time than in a saliva test. Blood tests are extremely accurate and extremely difficult to fake, but are invasive and test results are slow.

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