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Appledore Clinic |
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Cancer detection with velscope
A new light has been developed to detect oral cancer. It works by virtue of the fact that healthy cells in the mouth glow green under a specific wavelength of light, but unhealthy tissue does not. If you have an ulcer or swelling in your mouth which looks suspicious, we can look at it under this light and determine if the area is normal or abnormal. Dr Teresa Day our Clinical Director says ‘ This is a very useful tool to help us beat oral cancer. We know how disfiguring this disease can be and this light will help us to detect cancers at an early stage where they can be treated simply. We will be using it at all of our check up visits, and we will accept patients on referral for screening appointments.’ Statistics Oral cancer is a very disfiguring and debilitating disease and the profile of the disease is changing. The risk profile used to be generally male, over 40, smoker and drinker. However due to changing patterns of smoking and drinking, more females are being affected and at a younger age. The statistics for 2004 show that oral cancer affected over 4750 people per year and over 1700 people die per year in the UK. Velscope is available at Appledore Clinic now. |
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