Mouth Cancer Screening
During your dental check-up at Portmore Dental we will check your mouth for mouth cancer using our new piece of equipment, the VELscope. The VELscope is a hand held examining tool used to detect mouth cancer by shining a safe blue light into the mouth to show any abnormalities that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye. It is a non-invasive procedure and takes 2minutes, we use this as part of every check-up at Portmore Dental.
The early detection of mouth cancer could save your life!
Dr Eben Van der Walt demonstrates and explains the procedure in this short video:
Why VELscope?
The VELscope system helps dental professionals visualize abnormalities in the mucosal tissues of your lips, mouth and upper throat. In just two minutes, with no rinses, stains or discomfort, a VELscope examination lets healthcare professionals improve their assessment of your overall oral health.
Make sure that your mouth is as healthy as it can possibly be. The next time you visit your dentist or hygienist, ask for a VELscope exam.
How Does the VELscope Work?
The VELscope's blue light "excites" molecules (called "fluorophores") 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 VELscope's proprietary filter makes fluorescence visualization possible, by blocking reflected blue light, and by enhancing the contrast between normal and abnormal tissue.
Clearly, finding oral cancer in its early stages is key to survival. The VELscope Vx offers hope for the early discovery of oral precancers and cancers, by providing your dentist or hygienist with visual information that may not be apparent under ordinary light.
The VELscope system has been developed to help dental professionals discover a wide variety of oral abnormalities, including oral precancer and cancer. By shining VELscope's safe blue light in a patient's oral cavity, a dentist is able to distinguish between normal and abnormal tissue. That helps in the quest to find oral disease, even if it's invisible under ordinary light.