Dental visits and breast cancer screenings are not often discussed as related procedures, but they have been brought a bit closer together with the announcement that dentists may soon begin screening their patients for such tumors. American scientists have developed a test to check saliva(唾液)for marker proteins that indicate the presence of breast cancer in a patient's body. Since people typically visit the dentist more frequently than a physician, the test may be used alongside mammograms, ultrasounds(超音波), and tissue sample analysis as an early detection tool.