Oral Cancer Screening

According to the Oral Cancer Foundation, approximately 43,500 people in the US are diagnosed with oral/throat cancer annually, resulting in one death every hour. Early detection can increase survival rates to 90% with treatment, but most cases are not found until later stages, which only have a 57% survival rate after 5 years. The incidence of oral cancer has risen by 11% in recent years, with risk factors including tobacco and alcohol use, exposure to HPV-16, and unknown causes.

There are two clinical procedures available for screening oral cancer. The Velscope screening utilizes fluorescence technology to highlight abnormal tissues, while the OralDNA test can detect cancer cells in saliva samples, with a focus on identifying the HPV virus before it progresses to cancer.