Lake Orion, Michigan 48360
(248) 693-6213
Checkups & ViziLite Screening
Checkups
The American Dental Association recommends you see your dentist at least twice each year for a checkup. At your checkup, we will inspect your soft tissues for oral cancer, periodontal disease, and other problems. The dentist will also look at each tooth in your mouth to assess problems like tooth decay or cracks, as well as old dental work. Sometimes old dental work wears out and needs to be replaced. We will be happy to replace metal fillings, inlays, onlays, and crowns with tooth-colored alternatives.
By looking for trouble every six months, we can often reduce your potential for large dental problems. For instance, left untreated, a small cavity can grow to destroy an entire tooth and spread to surrounding teeth. A cracked tooth can cause pain or break off and create additional problems. Furthermore, advanced gum disease is the primary cause of tooth loss for American adults, and oral cancer causes more than 7,500 deaths each year. Caught and treated early, these diseases can be controlled. Children as young as two should visit the dentist, and by age four or five, a child should attend regular checkups.
ViziLite Oral Cancer Screening
Did you know that oral cancer steals the life of one American every hour? We don't hear much about oral cancer, but 35,000 patients will be diagnosed in 2008. Only half of patients diagnosed with oral cancer will survive longer than five years. Because it is often detected in the later stages, oral cancer's mortality rate is higher than that of cervical cancer, Hodgkins disease, brain, liver, kidney, or ovarian cancer. Treatment for oral cancer often causes disfiguration and lessens the patients quality of life.
Thanks to an amazing new technology, ViziLite, dentists and hygienists can quickly and painlessly screen for oral cancer. ViziLite is an identification and marking system that detects tissue abnormalities and is used in combination with traditional visual exams.
All adults should have an annual ViziLite exam because a quarter of oral cancer victims are non-smokers, don't drink, and have no lifestyle factors to heighten their oral cancer risk. Men over 40 are the most prone to the disease, although the number of women with oral cancer has risen in recent years, due to the increased number of women smokers. Patients with lifestyle risks, including any tobacco use, daily alcohol consumption, viral infections, autoimmune deficiencies like HIV, and diabetes, may need more frequent evaluations.
The screening involves a few simple steps. First, you rinse thoroughly with a cleansing solution. Then, your dentist dims the overhead lights and examines your mouth using the ViziLite wand. If ViziLite finds a problem area, the spot will become illuminated and appear distinctly different from the surrounding normal tissue.
While all of this information sounds disheartening, if oral cancer is found and treated in the early stages the condition has an 80 to 90-percent cure rate.
We Invite You to Schedule a Visit Today
Located in Lake Orion, our state-of-the-art dental facility serves families from Clarkston, Auburn Hills, Oxford, and Rochester Hills, as well as many other areas in southeast Michigan. Call us at 248-693-6213 to reserve your personal consultation, checkup, and cleaning with Dr. Greenfield, or to get answers to all of your questions. It’s time you experienced dental care close to home, but far from ordinary!