Each year 50,000 Americans are diagnosed with oral cancer...
Unfortunately, 10,000 of those cases will be fatal.
Like most cancers, oral cancer is treatable is diagnosed early.
That’s why Grand Lake Dental employs VELscope® as part of your hygiene exam.
Late detection of oral cancer is the primary cause that both the incidence and mortality rates of oral cancer continue to increase. As with most cancers, age is the primary risk factor for oral cancer. Tobacco and alcohol are other major predisposing risk factors but more than 25% of oral cancer victims have no such lifestyle risk factors.
Traditional oral mucosal examination tools rely on reflected light to visualize the oral cavity. VELscope® Vx uses tissue fluorescence rather than reflectance. Natural tissue fluorescence is caused by "fluorophores" that, when excited by light of an appropriate wavelength (e.g. blue), will emit their own light at a longer wavelength (e.g. green). The resulting fluorescence may reveal information about cellular, structural, and/or metabolic activity changes that are often directly related to disease processes occurring inside the tissue.
The VELscope Vx system is a powerful device for the enhanced visualization of mucosal abnormalities such as oral cancer and premalignant dysplasia. Unlike other adjunctive devices used by dentists, the VELscope Vx system does not require any dyes or prolonged testing procedures. In fact, VELscope Vx examinations can be performed in the dentist's office during routine hygiene exams (and under normal lighting conditions) in about two minutes.
