Milford dentist, Dentist in Milford, PA

VELscope - Fluorescence Visualization Technology

Every hour of every day in America someone dies of oral cancer. Oral cancer is the sixth most common diagnosed form of cancer in the United States and presently 30,000 patients are diagnosed annually. The 5-year survival rate is only 50%, accounting for 8,000 deaths each year.

Oral Cancer risk factors include tobacco use, frequent and/or excessive alcohol consumption, a compromised immune system, past history of cancer, and the presence of the HPV virus. Recently, however, 25% of all newly diagnosed cases have been in patients under the age of forty with none of the known risk factors. Oral Cancer is one of the few cancers whose survival rate has not improved in the past 50 years. This is due primarily to the fact that during this time we have not changed the way we screen for this disease (a visual and manual examination of the oral cavity, head, and neck).

The VELscope System is a revolutionary hand-held device that provides dentists, hygienists and other oral health care professionals with an easy-to-use examination system for the early detection of abnormal oral tissue. The Oral Cancer examination using VELscope is painless, non-invasive, with no rinses or stains required and it only takes one to two minutes. The VELscope System Handpiece emits a safe blue light into the oral cavity causing it to fluoresce. The clinician can then differentiate between normal and abnormal tissue. It is the only adjunctive device cleared by the FDA to help discover oral lesions that might not be apparent or visible to the naked eye.

Dr. Coppola is the first and only dentist in the area using this new technology.