Oral Cancer Screening

As your health care providers, we are very concerned about oral cancer, which is too often diagnosed in later stages leading to permanent disfiguration and death. Most patients are not aware of the potential risks; however, when detected early enough the survival rate for oral cancer is very high.

Most oral cancer can be caught early, even as a pre-cancer. With early detection, survival rates are high, and side effects from treatment are at their lowest. These screenings are painless, quick, and inexpensive. Like other screenings you engage in such as cervical, skin, prostate, colon and breast examinations, oral cancer screenings are an effective means of finding cancer at its early stages.

At Hollar Dental Group, we have always conducted a comprehensive oral cancer screening for all our patients. We recently incorporated a new FDA approved breakthrough technology that will enable us to see things we have been unable to see previously. As you know our world is changing rapidly around us and that includes this new way to diagnose oral cancer in a screening.

The new an exciting technology, called VELscope Vx™ has replaced the older VELscope technology. You doctors thought it was important to introduce this technology when the new approved VELscope VX model had been properly tested and approved. The VELscope Vx hand piece emits a safe blue light into the mouth, causing the tissue to fluoresce. The fluorescence visualization helps healthcare professionals in identifying oral abnormalities at the earliest stages, allowing them to discover potentially cancerous lesions that may not be evident under white light.

Leading oral cancer risk factors include:

• Use of tobacco products
• Use of alcohol
• Family history of cancer
• Over age 40