Our office uses the VELscope
     Oral Cancer Screening System

 

More than 41,000 new cases of oral and throat cancers are diagnosed each year in the United States, and the 5-year survival rate is about 64%. Without proper detection methods, a person may have oral cancer and not even know it. In almost all cases of oral cancer, early detection plays a major role in a patient's chances of survival.

 

Risk factors for oral cancer include:

 

• Frequent use of tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chewing tobacco)
• Excessive consumption of alcohol
• Genetics (a family history of oral cancer or any type of cancer)
• Excessive exposure to the sun at a young age

 

While men above the age of 50 are typically at the most risk for oral cancer, there has been a recent increase in the number of women with oral cancer due to a connection between oral cancer and the human papilloma virus.

 

How VELscope works

 

The VELscope system emits a blue-spectrum light that causes the soft tissues of the mouth to naturally fluoresce. The existence of trauma or disease is observed through variations in the distinctive florescent patterns of healthy tissues. A wide variety of oral abnormalities can be detected even before they are visible to the untrained eye.