October 2006 – Blodgett Dental Care becomes Portland’s first dental practice to offer VELscope oral cancer detection, a technology which aids in finding oral cancer long before it could be detected with the naked eye.  Our belief in its importance is so strong that we offer this screening at no charge to all patients in our practice.  If avoiding oral cancer is important to you, make sure you see us so that we can a VELscope screening for you. 

Facts about oral cancer:

• Oral cancer is the sixth leading cause of cancer worldwide
• A quarter of all oral cancer cases occur in men and women with no known risk behaviors.
• According to American Cancer Society data, nearly as many women will be diagnosed with oral cancer as with cervical cancer this year.
• The key to reducing the impact of this disease is early detection.

Oral cancer Risk Factors:

• age – all adults
• gender – more men than women develop oral cancer
• smoking – particularly if combined with heavy alcohol consumption
• chewing tobacco or using snuff
• heavy alcohol consumption – particularly if combined with smoking
• excessive sun exposure to the lips.