We have been discussing the advanced oral cancer screening that we offer at our Evanston dental office over the past couple of weeks. In this week’s blog post we will tell you more about what to expect from this advanced screening. We’ll also discuss why this screening can help increase your chance of surviving oral cancer.
What to Expect from Vizilite Plus
The advanced screening we use in our office is called Vizilite Plus. It is a quick and easy screening that will be combined with the normal visual screenings that are completed by our dentists and hygienists. The Vizilite Plus exam uses an acidic solution to temporarily dry the tissues in your mouth. You will swish and spit this solution to ensure that it reaches all of the tissues in your mouth. Then a test specific light is used to illuminate your tissue. Any suspicious lesions will appear to glow.
If a suspicious lesion is found, the dentist will use T-Blue dye. This dye stains any tissue that has been mutated and may be pre-cancerous. This allows our Evanston dentists to better evaluate the lesion under normal light. At this point, the lesion may be biopsied. Our dentists may do a simple brush biopsy to find out if the lesion is cancerous. The other option is to be referred to an oral surgeon for the biopsy.
How it Increases Your Chance of Survival
The exam that dentists and hygienists use to diagnose oral cancer involves a visual exam of your oral tissues. Additionally the dentist or hygienist will palpate your jaw, cheeks, lips, and neck to feel for any lumps or abnormalities.
Using the Vizilite Plus oral cancer screening, our dentists are able to diagnose lesions that may have previously gone unnoticed. Many of the lesions found with Vizilite are not visible under normal lighting conditions and maybe missed and allowed to go undiagnosed until it is too late. Vizilite allows our dentists to detect oral cancer earlier than the visual test. Detecting oral cancer in its earliest stages is the best way to increase your chance of survival.
Oral cancer can be devastating. 50% of people who are diagnosed with oral cancer have only a 5 year survival rate. This is partially due to the fact that there haven’t been very many developments in the oral cancer screening process. Vizilite Plus is one advancement that will help increase your survival rate. Our doctors recommend a Vizilite Plus exam once a year.