Salivary protein, albumin and cystatin concentrations were investigated in subjects with a periodontium and in patients with gingivitis or periodontitis were signigicantly increased compared with healthy subjects. Salivary protein ans albumin appeared to be positively correlated in all the groups, which suggests that the increase in salivary protein concentration in subjects with gingivitis or perodontitis is caused by leakage of plasma proteins. Cystatin concentrations in saliva of subjects with periodontitis wer significantly increased when compared with the healthy group and the gingivitis group (p<0.01). In the gingivitis and perodontitis group, salivary custatin was only weakly correlated with albumin concentations, which suggests that the increased salivary cystatin activity found in subjects with gingivitis and periodontitis is derived from sources otehr than plasma.