Early Detection Saves Lives

Free Oral Cancer Screening Exams

April is DentalHealth Month and Daffodil Days for the Canadian Cancer Society.

To support both of these campaigns, promoting dental health and cancer awareness, Acreview Dental Clinic will be providing an opportunity for the public to receive free Oral Cancer Screening Exams.

With oral cancer on the rise, screenings to discover any potentially dangerous conditions in your mouth are of the utmost importance.  One person every hour of the day dies in the US alone from Oral Cancer.  In its early stages it may not produce symptoms that you notice so a thorough screening by a trained professional is essential.  When found early, this disease is highly survivable.  Many times it can even be found as precancerous tissue changes, the best of all possible situations.  Oral cancer screenings involve both a visual and tactile screening and are totally painless.  Our office also utilizes a new adjunctive tool, the Velscope, which uses a special wavelength of blue light to help us identify suspicious tissues in your mouth.  With it we are able to enhance the early detection of oral cancer.

Who should get screened?

Every adult. Oral cancer can often be caught early, even as a pre-cancer. With early detection, survival rates are high and the side effects are from treatment are at their lowest. Like other screenings you engage in such as cervical, skin, prostate, colon and breast examinations, oral cancer screenings are an effective means of finding cancer at its early, highly curable stages. Make them part of your annual health check-ups.

What are the risk factors?

There are two distinct pathways by which most people come to oral cancer. One is through the use of tobacco and alcohol, a long term historic problem and cause, and the other is through exposure to the HPV16 virus (human papilloma virus version 16), which is now the leading cause of oral cancers in the US, and the same one, which is responsible for the vast majority of cervical cancers in women. The quickest growing segment of the oral cancer population are young, healthy, non-smokers due to the connection to this virus.

Dr. Karamanis, Dr. Burry and our entire dental team are looking forward to being able to offer those that attend our event, the highest quality of care with regard to oral cancer screening, and on this date, three and a half hours have been set aside to see individuals who need screenings.  It is not necessary that you have been a previous patient in our practice as this event is open to the public.  HOWEVER, the number of screening time slots is limited so register with us early to ensure a spot in the schedule.

For complete details, or to answer any questions that you may have, we urge you to contact us at the number or email below.  We look forward to seeing you for your annual exam. 

Cost:          Free, Donations will be accepted on behalf of the Canadian Cancer Society
                               in support of Daffodil Days

When:         Friday, April 20, 2012 from 12:30 – 4:00 pm

Where:       116 – 750 Comox Road, Courtenay, BC V9N 3P6

Contact:     Gillian or Louise (250) 338-9085

                      Email: acreviewdental@shaw.ca

For more information about our clinic, visit our website at http://acreviewdental.com/