Oral Cancer Screening With VELscope™
 The National Cancer Institute estimates that about 40,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with mouth or throat cancer in 2012.
Your mouth is part of the oral cavity, which also includes your lips, cheek lining, gums, front part of your tongue, floor of the mouth beneath the tongue and the hard palate that makes up the roof of your mouth. The throat (pharynx) starts at the soft part of the roof of your mouth and continues back into your throat. It includes the back section of your tongue as well as the base where the tongue attaches to the floor of your mouth.
During your dental visit, Dr. Layport will talk to you about your health history and examine these areas for signs of mouth and/or throat cancer. Regular visits to your dentist can improve the chances that any suspicious changes in your oral health will be caught early, at a time when cancer can be treated more easily.
Symptoms of Mouth or Throat Cancer Can Include:
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sores that bleed easily or do not heal
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A thick or hard spot or lump
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A roughened or crusted area
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Numbness, pain or tenderness
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A change in the way your teeth fit together when you bite down |
Make sure to tell your dentist about any problems you have when chewing, swallowing, speaking or moving your tongue or jaw.
Your visit with Dr. Cynthia Layport will include a thorough oral cancer screening, including a VELscope scan, during your consultative appointment.
Learn More About VELscope Technology
One of the VELscope system's most important tasks is to help identify areas that might, if not identified and treated, progress to oral cancer. The statistics below, from the National Cancer Institute's SEER Database, 1999-2006, are a compelling argument for regular VELscope exams:
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Found early, while still Localized (confined to the primary site), oral cancer's five-year survival rate is good: about 83%. Only 33% of all oral cancer discoveries fall into this category. |
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Found while Regional (progressed to regional lymph nodes) the five-year survival rate drops significantly, to about 55%. Approximately 46% of all oral cancer discoveries are Regional. |
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Found late, oral cancer's five-year survival rate is poor: approximately 32%. This accounts for approximately 14% of all oral cancer findings. |
Clearly, finding oral cancer in its early stages is key to survival. The VELscope Vx offers hope for the early discovery of oral precancers and cancers, by providing your dentist or hygienist with visual information that may not be apparent under ordinary light.
For more information on oral cancer, please visit the Oral Cancer Foundation.
The VELscope system has been developed to help dental professionals discover a wide variety of oral abnormalities, including oral precancer and cancer. By shining VELscope's safe blue light in a patient's oral cavity, a dentist is able to distinguish between normal and abnormal tissue. That helps in the quest to find oral disease, even if it's invisible under ordinary light.
*All content courtesy of the SEER Database.
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