GET 10% OFF ON YOUR TEETH CLEANING SERVICES, OFFER LIMITED TO NEW PATIENTS ONLY!
GET 10% OFF ON YOUR TEETH CLEANING SERVICES, OFFER LIMITED TO NEW PATIENTS ONLY!
Oral cancer screening is a routine part of a dental examination. Regular check-ups, utalizing including an examination of the entire mouth, are essential in the early detection of cancerous and pre-cancerous conditions. You may have a very small, but dangerous, oral spot or sore and not be aware of it.
The doctor will carefully examine the inside of your mouth and tongue and in some patients may notice a flat, painless, white or red spot or a small sore. Although most of these are harmless, some are not. Harmful oral spots or sores often look identical to those that are harmless, but testing can tell them apart. If you have a sore with a likely cause, the doctor may treat it and ask you to return for re-examination.
To ensure that a spot or sore is not dangerous, the doctor may choose to perform a simple test, such as a brush test. A brush test collects cells from a suspicious lesion in the mouth. The cells are sent to a laboratory for analysis. If precancerous cells are found, the lesion can be surgically removed if necessary during a separate procedure. It's important to know that all atypical and positive results from a brush test, or other screening tests, must be confirmed by biopsy.
VELscope Oral Cancer Screening System
More than 480,000 new cases of oral and throat cancers are diagnosed each year, and over 35,000 of those cases are right here in the United States. Oral cancer kills one person every hour in the U.S., and without proper detection methods, a person may have oral cancer and not even know it. In almost all cases of oral cancer, early detection plays a major role in a patient's chances of survival. By diagnosing and treating oral cancer early, a patient's five year survival rate is 80-90% greater.
While men above the age of 50 are typically at the most risk for oral cancer, there has been a recent increase in the number of women with oral cancer due to a connection between oral cancer and the human papilloma virus (HPV-16).
The VELscope screening system consists of a specialized white light source and viewing scope that make it easier for your doctor to look closely at the tissues inside your mouth. Normal tissues will almost glow a bright green color. Abnormal tissue shows up much darker under the special light.
An abnormal screening does not always mean that the patient has cancer. If an abnormal screening occurs, your doctor may schedule a second scan later to see if the dark spots disappear, or may choose to perform a gentle, non-invasive brush biopsy to make sure it's not cancer.
Platelet rich fibrin (PRF), a by-product of blood (plasma), is rich in platelets. PRF permits the body to take advantage of the normal healing pathways at a greatly accelerated rate. During the healing process, the body rushes many cells and cell-types to the wound in order to initiate the healing process. One of those cell types is platelets. Platelets perform many functions, including formation of a blood clot and release of growth factors into the wound. These growth factors function is to assist the body in repairing itself by stimulating stem cells to regenerate new tissue. The more growth factors released into the wound, the faster the healing.
PRF promotes healing in bone grafting for dental implants, onlay and inlay grafts, sinus lift procedures, ridge augmentation procedures, and closure of cleft, lip, palate defects, repair of bone defects creating by removal of teeth or small cysts, and the repair of fistulas between the sinus cavity and mouth. This is of great significance to the surgeon who places dental implants. By adding PRF your implant surgeon can now grow bone more predictably and faster than ever before.
Advantages of PRF
Frequently Asked Questions PRF:
Q: Is PRF safe?
A: Yes. During the outpatient surgical procedure a small amount of your own blood is drawn out via the IV. This blood is then placed in the PRF centrifuge machine and spun down. In less than 15 minutes, the PRF is formed and ready to use.
Q: Is PRF be used in all bone grafting cases?
A: Not necessarily, however, as with most cases the application of PRF to a graft will increase the final amount of bone present in addition to making the wound heal faster and more efficiently.
Q: How much does it cost?
A: The cost of a PRF application is approximately $600. Unfortunately most insurance plans do not cover PRF and the expense is paid by the patient.
Reports confirm excellent bone regeneration when the calcium method of Osteo-Cystic Therapy is used. Notice the bone of the two sockets after the extractions years 26 years ago has healed from the depth of the sockets toward the surface (BEFORE). However, something must have remained on the midline, like a Diastemic infection. (DURING) the Calcium Therapy that bone encapsulated the anaerobic colony on the midline, closed the infection off from the oral cavity, and then, regenerated the maxillary bone last (AFTER).
For many years, the least expensive option for dental fillings has been dental amalgam. Dental amalgam is a combination of mostly powdered silver, tin and copper and liquid mercury.
The amalgam components are combined and placed in a cavity detected by your dental professional. Dental amalgam does not bond to tooth structure and requires extensive cavity preparation in order to produce a retentive dental restoration. It also has a silver color, which eventually becomes dark and unsightly, due to oxidation of the metallic components.
Dental amalgam poses great risk to dental staff and patients. A patient with an amalgam filling inhales mercury fumes, which evaporate from the filling due to wear. Again, unreacted liquid mercury present in the filling may leak into the surrounding gingiva and other tissues. Removal of a failed amalgam filling also releases mercury vapor which is inhaled by anyone present.
Liquid mercury is toxic even in low amounts and its exposure results in symptoms such as irritability, headaches and general malaise. It may even result in more severe complications such as brain and kidney disease with high or constant contact, such as is the case for dental staff.
There are some arguments about the levels of mercury vapor released from dental amalgam with some suggesting that these levels are too low to cause any harm. However, most experts agree that there is always some amount of mercury vapor escape during placing and especially when removing dental amalgam.
Therefore, the use of mercury must be avoided in the dental setting at all costs and tooth colored materials, which bind to tooth structure and are more esthetic should be encouraged. However, for a practice to be truly mercury-free, there should be safe removal of old amalgam fillings by extracting resultant mercury fumes from the dental unit, thus, preventing any further unnecessary exposure to staff or patients.
Mercury-free dentistry is a safe, effective treatment and should be embraced everywhere! Feel free to ask a team member for more information.
For many years, fluoride has been the most popular component in dental gels, dentifrices and mouthwashes. It is known to combine with the calcific components of the teeth to form a stronger tooth structure in a process called re-mineralization. This helps prevent tooth decay. Although fluoride occurs naturally as calcium fluoride, synthetic fluoride is the preferred form in dental applications.
The problem, however, is that synthetically formed fluoride, when ingested, may be absorbed and bound to tissues in the body outside the oral region, resulting in adverse effects. even within the mouth, too much ingestion of fluoride leads to fluorosis, which causes teeth to weaken and discolor.
Currently, there are several alternatives to synthetic fluoride in dental products and applications.
Amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) is one of these substitutes. It contains the basic building blocks for tooth re-mineralization. It is thus directly incorporated into the tooth substance when the tooth demineralizes due to bacterial activity. In this way, ACP turns the tooth back to its original form, preventing tooth decay. It also eliminates the need for dental restorations when incipient cavities occur.
Xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar substitute, which also helps prevent decay by its antibacterial properties. It is known to aid the absorption of naturally occurring fluoride into the teeth, and thus can aid tooth re-mineralization.
Ozone is an unstable gas with an oxidative ability, which destroys harmful bacteria when applied in the oral cavity. It is also able to stimulate blood circulation and thus an immune response as well.
Fluoride is beneficial in dental application, but its adverse effects make it prudent for individuals to try safer and equally effective alternatives.
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