Henry Schein and LED Dental team up to offer life-saving oral cancer detection technology

Through early detection, a two-minute, non-invasive exam can save lives

According to the Oral Cancer Foundation, oral cancer is diagnosed in 100 people each day in the United States, with one person dying from the disease every hour. Add in laryngeal throat cancer to the statistics, and the rates of occurrence (about 10,000 new cases each year) and death are significantly higher.

Because of the lack of awareness in both patient and practitioner populations, only half of all diagnosed cases are expected to have a survival rate of more than five years. But the Oral Cancer Foundation also has good news: With early detection, oral cancers have an up to 90 percent survival rate.

Henry Schein Dental and LED Dental recently announced an important partnership to deliver a revolutionary new system for diagnosing early forms of oral disease to practitioners throughout North America. As the exclusive distributor of LED Dental’s VELscope VX Enhanced Oral Assessment system, Henry Schein Dental is offering the most technologically advanced product on the market today to enable practitioners to offer the highest possible quality of care.

The original VELscope system, introduced in 2006, was the first system to receive FDA and Health Canada clearance to help clinicians detect cancerous and precancerous lesions that might not be apparent to the naked eye and to help surgeons determine the appropriate surgical margin when excision of abnormal tissue is indicated.

Today’s VELscope Vx system retains all of the capabilities of prior generations and features a cordless design that provides significantly greater portability and convenience at a price point of less than half the cost of older models.

Easy to incorporate into any practice, the VELscope Vx screening exam takes only two minutes as part of a standard hygiene checkup.

Screening is totally non-invasive for the patient. No rinses, dyes or discomfort are involved. The system helps clinicians detect many types of oral disease, including viral, bacterial and fungal infections. The exam provides both the patient and the practice with peace of mind, because in most cases, no problems will be revealed.

Any suspicious lesions can be easily photo-documented and shared with specialists to whom the patient might be referred for surgical biopsy.

The VELscope Vx lets patients know that yours is a caring, state-of-the-art practice. What’s more, it just might help you save a life.