Oral Cancer Screening

• Oral Cancer kills one North American every hour of every day.
• Oral Cancer strikes more victims than cervical and lung cancer combined.
• 2/3 of Oral Cancer cases are detected in advanced/late stages.
• The death rate for Oral Cancer is higher than that of cervical cancer, Hodgkin's disease, cancer of the brain, liver, testes, kidney, ovary or skin (malignant melanoma).
• Advanced /Late Stage Oral Cancer has a 5-year survival rate of 22%.
• Early Detection of Oral Cancer has a 5-year survival rate of 80-90%.
• Tobacco and Alcohol are High Risk Factors.
• Studies have linked Oral Cancer to the human papilloma virus (HPV-16) via oral sex.

Pre-malignant changes actually start below the surface, at the basement membrane. These changes may not be apparent to the naked eye until the disease progresses to the surface.

• Takes about 5 minutes.
• Features a traditional visual and palpation examination, plus a screening with the state-of-the-art VELscope Oral Cancer Screening System.
• Non-invasive and completely free of pain or discomfort.
• With the VELscope system, abnormal tissue typically appears as an irregular, dark area that stands out against the otherwise normal, green fluorescence pattern of surrounding healthy tissue. VELscope enables us to discover abnormal tissue as early as possible.
• The VELscope helps us to screen for a wide variety of things, including inflammation, infections, precancerous and cancerous tissue.
• Any suspect area is then referred to an Oral Surgeon for biopsy and diagnosis.

Fortunately the majority of lesions or areas we have biopsied by the oral surgeon are not cancerous but it's a great relief to get it properly checked. We recommend having a VELscope assisted exam at least once a year.