Velscope Cancer Detection
When we examine your teeth, we also exam your mouth for any sign of cancer or other lesions. The use of Velscope helps us to find and identify problems early (and with cancer, the earlier the better!).
Normal, healthy tissue will fluorescence (or glow) naturally when viewed under the right lighting conditions. Unhealthy tissue will lose the ability to fluorescence . Velscope will allow us to visualize the tissues for this fluorescence. This enhances our ability to examine the oral mucosa and screen for tissue abnormalities, potentially leading to the earlier discovery of pre-cancer, cancer, and other disease processes. This is particularly important, considering the overall five-year survival rate for oral cancer is only 50-60%, but it can be as high as 80-90% when the disease is discovered and treated in its early stages. This early detection is one of the best mechanisms for enabling treatment success, increasing survival rates, and maintaining a high quality of life.