Oral Cancer

Not fun words to hear. But we need to watch out for it.

According to the American Cancer Society, oral cancer affects some 35,000 Americans yearly. Of these 7500 do not survive past the first year. Of the remaining 27,500 only 50% make it past 5 years.

So early detection makes treatment outcome much more promising. And where does detection begin? With your complete medical and social background.

What are the risk factors for developing oral cancer?

Most people associate smoking cigarettes and other forms of tobacco use with an increase in risk. But there are other factors which are more newly discovered that increase the risk of oral cancer. And they are: Alcohol abuse, HPV (Human Papilloma Virus), 40 plus years old, history of cancer, marijuana use and family members with cancer.
However, nearly 25% of oral cancer victims have no risk factors! So everyone should be screened because who wants to be the one out of four people whose cancer was missed!

Oral Cancer screening has been something that we perform on all of our patients. Development of technology now allows us to more thoroughly investigate lesions that we may miss with our naked eyes.

Vizilite Plus allows us to detect lesions we may miss under normal lighting. What does that mean you ask? It means that under normal lighting conditions, both good and bad tissue make look the same. But when we use a special light, they appear different.

While Vizilite Plus is not very costly (the exam costs less than $70) most dental insurance companies will not cover this service (even though it could help save a life or save tens of thousands of dollars in medical expenses).

Oral CDX is another form of screening for oral cancer. A cotton swab is vigorously rubbed against the suspicious looking area. The swab is then sent to Oral CDX laboratories for evaluation and diagnosis. The procedure is more costly (about $300) and it is used to evaluate very specific lesions.

What is the difference between Vizilite Plus and Oral CDX?

One is the cost. Two is the areas that we want to evaluate. Positive results based on either screening methods will be referred to an oral surgeon for further evaluation and treatment.

The technology available to us allows earlier detection and therapy resulting in better results and longer healthier lives.