Accuracy & Reliability

Oral Fluid Drug TestingAccurate, Dependable, and Unadulterated

It’s very important to us that all drug test results performed by Forensic Fluids Laboratories be accurate, dependable, and trustworthy. We strive for the ultimate reliability that drug testing can offer.

There are several factors that make Oral Fluid test results accurate and reliable!

Factors

The advanced technology we use is the best in the industry. The sole purpose is to give you the results that provide solutions for you!

Bridget L. - Toxicologist, Forensic Fluids Laboratories

1. What are the factors that make our test results accurate and reliable?

2. How well do the different testing methods perform when
compared to each other?

3. What do the results of a drug test tell you?

Factors

Early Detection Window

Window of detection is the range of time the drug(s) will remain in the body after the last dose. All methods of drug testing (saliva/oral fluid, urine, hair, blood, and sweat) have different windows of detection. For accuracy and reliability, the testing method used should be appropriately matched with the desired detection window.

If the last dose occurred outside of the detection window (too far in the past, or even too recent), some drug testing methods will return a “negative” result regardless of whether or not the drug was used.

Oral fluid testing, in its similarity to blood, excels in the ability to detect drug use within the first moments of consumption. Urine testing must wait until the drugs have passed through the body.

In many cases, Oral Fluid testing will return a positive result immediately after use. Also, Oral Fluid testing can detect most drugs up to 4 days after last usage. As a result, it is the ideal testing method for impairment, post-accident testing, and dosage monitoring.

Eliminate Tampering

Urine testing is incredibly easy to cheat, beat, or otherwise falsify! Such techniques involve adulterants that interfere with the test results. Donors may take advantage of the privacy required when collecting a urine sample, which is not the case with Oral Fluid.

Oral Fluid drug tests are administered under supervised observation, making cheating virtually impossible, when properly conducted.

How do you cheat or beat an Oral Fluid drug test? The short answer is: you can’t, if it is done correctly.

Equipment Precision

Forensic Fluids Laboratories uses the most technologically advanced equipment available!

Oral Fluid samples are first screened using Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA).

Samples testing positive after screening are tested again using Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS/MS), the most sophisticated and accurate method available. LC/MS/MS is more accurate and 100 to 1,000 times more precise than Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS).

Strong Correlation to Impairment

Compounds in a person’s blood are also present in their Oral Fluid. Oral Fluid tests measure the psychoactive element of the drug (also known as the “parent compound”). When the parent compound is detected in Oral Fluid, that indicates that the drug has entered the blood stream and is available to the brain. The higher the level, the more of the drug is in their system. This means that Oral Fluid levels can be used to measure impairment.

In contrast, urine tests do not measure the parent compound, they measure “metabolites.” Metabolites are the by-product compounds created from the parent. Metabolite levels do not correspond to current impairment levels. Furthermore, the amount of metabolites found in urine varies. This leads to both negative and positive results throughout the detection window time frame.

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