Our dentists here at Westtown Dental Care play many roles: cosmetic provider, oral surgeon, dental hygienist, and even an early oncologist! While it seems like a disparate field, your dentist is actually the best and first provider to notice and flag one of the most malignant types of cancer: oral. A physical and visual examination of your oral cavity for any non-normative lesions, tissues, or markings comes standard with your dental visit. But in the early stages, cancerous oral tissues can be indistinguishable from normative tissues under white light. Thankfully, there’s a new way to combat this and spot lesions in their early stages: the light-based oral cancer screening (OCS).
There are multiple OCS options available in dentistry — OralID®, blue tissue stains — but here at Westtown Dental Care we use ViziLite PRO. ViziLite PRO is a chemiluminescent light, meaning it specializes in highlighting the differences in tissue reflectivity. While the differences of non-normative tissues are subtle under white light in the nascent stages, the abnormality of their structure reveals them with the ViziLite PRO. Since the cells compose and divide themselves differently, the ViziLite PRO reflects off them differently, highlighting their location. Normal tissue absorbs the ViziLite PRO rays, appearing a cool, uniform blue. Cancerous or troublesome tissues reflect the light with noticeable difference — sometimes with darker or lighter spots, striations or variations—appearing starker under the ViziLite PRO.
During the ViziLite PRO OCS, our doctors comprehensively review the oral cavity, examining the hard and soft palettes, cheeks, tongue, throat, and all the tissues in between under the light. The light has no physical effect and does not expose patients to any radiation. Because of the obvious way any non-normative tissues light up, the examination is both thorough and quick, adding a negligible amount of time to your biannual appointment.
If non-normative tissues appear during your ViziLite PRO exam, it does not automatically mean you have mouth cancer. Variations in tissue composition and reflectivity can be normal, temporary aberrations in the oral health system. Dependent upon the location, age, sensitivity, and duration of the marking, our doctors may simply recommend monitoring the area, with a call back to review for progression. They also may recommend a sampling, for which we would refer our patients out for culturing and monitoring, to find out with certainty whether the area is cancerous.
ViziLite PRO is an amazing advancement in oral health and has been instrumental in reducing the rate of death and serious disability and disfigurement from oral cancers. Despite its success, the procedure is not yet covered by most insurance companies. At our practice, a ViziLite PRO OCS costs $75.
The staff of Westtown Dental Care offer the OCS once per year to all patients over 18 years old. Like any medical procedure, the choice to get it done is entirely yours. We do not require it as part of your patient care. While we recommend it annually for everyone as a precaution, groups more at risk for mouth cancers should seriously consider it biannually, or at least annually. Those most at risk include people over 40, people who smoke and/or drink heavily, and people living with HIV/AIDS. Some obvious symptoms of oral cancer are persistent sores or ulcers, difficulty moving the jaw (to chew, speak, etc.), rough spots, growths, lumps, red or white patches in the mouth, and/or pain and numbness in the ears, nose, mouth, or throat.
If you have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to bring them up to your provider during your visit. We are always happy to provide further information! If you need an appointment or have any questions, please do not hesitate to call us at 484-887-0777. We are continually happy to be a part of your care.