Dental caries is a major worldwide oral disease afflicting a large proportion of children. As an important host factor of caries susceptibility, saliva plays a significant role in the occurrence and development of caries. The aim of the present study was to characterize the healthy and cariogenic salivary proteome and determine the changes in salivary protein expression of children with varying degrees of active caries, also to establish salivary proteome profiles with a potential therapeutic use against dental caries.