VELscope® Screening for Oral Cancer Prevention in Abbotsford
Now we have new wellness exam technology that dramatically improves our ability to screen for oral abnormalities that could lead to cancer. Because early detection is essential to increase chances of successful treatment, we always check your whole mouth (tongue, lips, cheek lining and gums). Midtown Dental in Abbotsford has acquired VELscope®, a state-of-the-art, painless, non-invasive screening tool that helps us to see what we can’t see with the unaided eye during your routine oral cancer checkup.
What You Can Expect during a VELscope® Examination
After conducting a thorough oral cancer examination, we’ll use a handheld device to shine a blue light into your mouth, then examine the tissues through a special eyepiece. This technology takes advantage of your mouth’s natural fluorescence which is normally invisible. Using the blue light, however, we can look for specific changes in the color or structure of your oral tissues that might be indicative of abnormal cells. It takes only about five potentially life-saving minutes.
We want all of our patients to have a bright and smiling future. Recently, more than 25% of oral cancer victims have been under the age of forty and have had none of the known lifestyle risk factors like tobacco, alcohol use, diabetes or HIV. And because in its earliest, most treatable stages, oral cancer usually causes no pain or discomfort, we perform the VELscope® examination for all of our adult patients every year.
