Sioux City Dentist Uses Technology To Detect Oral Cancer

Sioux City Dentist Uses Technology To Detect Oral Cancer
Updated: February 19, 2008
KTIV TV

Someone dies from oral cancer every hour of every day in North America. It's a startling statistic, but one Siouxland dental clinic is hoping to help do something about that.

Dr. Doug Wheelock is using the VELscope. It's a device that uses light to check a patient's mouth for cancerous lesions. Those lesions are often red or white, and often are on the tongue. But not often are they noticed by the patient until there's pain. Dr. Doug Wheelock says, "By the time it hurts it's too late. And generally it does not hurt, and that's unfortunate. If it hurt, people would have it looked at sooner."

Early detection is key in fighting oral cancer. The 5-year survival rate for oral cancer is 52-percent... but if caught early the survival rate bumps up to 80 or 90-percent. Dr. Wheelock says, "The combination of smoking and alcohol is the number one risk factor." So is chewing tobacco. But Dr. Wheelock says as of late a growing number of middle aged women have developed oral cancer, something that's prompting researchers to see if it could be connected to the human-papilloma virus or HPV.

Dentists have checked for oral cancer for years. Dr. Wheelock says, "They visual exam, palpation, you know they feel inside the mouth for any lumps and sores and so forth." But the VELscope now gives Dr. Wheelock and his associate Dr. Bursick a birds-eye view of spots that can not be seen by the naked, trained eye of a dentist. Dr. Wheelock says, "It excites the tissue. As it strikes the tissue, and it gives off the tissues natural florescence." The bright green areas are good tissue. If there's a dangerous or suspicious spot, it will be darker in color, like this.

Dr. Wheelock says it's important to be checked for oral cancer by your dentist, but he also says if you have a sore in your mouth that doesn't go away in two weeks, that also should be checked, just in case. It's a sign that it could be more than just a canker sore. If the dentist feels it is an area of concern, he may refer you to an oral surgeon to have the area biopsied.

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