Oral cancer is a disfiguring type of cancer. It often requires surgery that can grossly distort your physical appearance and chemotherapy and/or radiation that can cause you to lose your sense of taste and experience great difficulty in eating and maintaining your appropriate weight.

In addition to tobacco and alcohol users, any person who is sexually active is at risk of developing the disease. This is why at Solace Dental Care, we recommend that all adults receive an oral cancer exam at least once a year.

We use the VELscope system to conduct our oral cancer exams. The VELscope system is the first oral cancer screening device to incorporate fluorescence visualization technology to help detect abnormal tissue, including cancer and pre-cancer. It is one of the best oral cancer detection devices but it is not a diagnostic device. A surgical biopsy is required before a diagnosis can be made.

View of abnormal tissue (biopsy-confirmed to be severe dysplasia) with the naked eye. No apparent problem.	View of same abnormal tissue through the VELscope. Lesions identifiable by dark color and irregular shape.