Early Oral Cancer Detection Saves Lives

ACCORDING TO THE ORAL CANCER FOUNDATION nearly 37,000 Americans are diagnosed with oral cancer every year, causing 8,000 deaths and killing approximately one person every hour. Roughly $3.2 billion is spent in the U.S. each year on treatment of cancers in the head or neck. One of the most alarming things about this is that of those 37,000 newly diagnosed cases, barely half of them will survive the next five years.

Why Is The Death Rate So High For Oral Cancer?

Oral Cancer isn’t hard to discover or diagnose, but it is oftentimes detected when it’s already too late. Many times people just don’t realize anything is wrong until it has progressed to later, more dangerous stages. Why is this the case?

1. Oral cancer can prosper painlessly and without symptoms recognizable symptoms.
2. People don’t come in for enough dental checkups.
3. Sometimes, even if people are coming in regularly, their dentist just doesn’t check for it.

Another alarming fact is that though the survival rate for other cancers has improved over the last couple decades, oral cancer rates have not, making the death rate much higher for oral cancer than it is for the cancers which we hear about routinely including cervical cancer, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, laryngeal cancer, testes cancer, and endocrine system cancers such as thyroid, or skin cancer (malignant melanoma).

How The VELscope System Helps

The VELscope system allows Dr. Puig to visualize abnormalities in the mucosal tissues of your lips, upper throat, and mouth. In two minutes, using no rinses or causing any discomfort, Dr. Puig can perform a simple VELscope examination where she can better assess your overall oral health and catch possible problems early.

- it can be easily implemented as part of your oral exam
- it only takes 1–2 minutes
- it is completely non-invasive
- there are no rinses or dyes
- there is no pain or discomfort

The VELscope’s completely safe (and FDA approved) blue light “excites” molecules deep within the layers of oral mucosal tissues. In turn, those fluorophores emit their own light (fluorescence) in shades of green, yellow and red. The light’s proprietary filter makes fluorescence visualization possible by blocking reflected blue light, and by enhancing the contrast between normal and abnormal tissue.

The American Cancer Society recommends that patients have a complete soft tissue examination (standard visual exam) at least once a year. The addition of a VELscope screening can help bring added peace of mind.

It is our goal to keep you as healthy as possible. Next time you visit our office, visit with Dr. Puig about VELscope and oral cancer screening.

And, if you haven’t already, be sure to “Like” our Facebook page to stay connected with our practice. Just click on the logo below: