About the VELscope Vx

The VELscope Vx is LED Dental Inc.'s latest model release of the VELscope system. The VELscope Vx is:

• • cordless

• • compact

• • affordable – even for multiple operatories.

The VELscope Vx is the most powerful tool available for assisting in the discovery of oral abnormalities. The VELscope's distinctive blue-spectrum light causes the soft tissues of the mouth to naturally fluoresce. Healthy tissues fluoresce in distinctive pattes — pattes that are visibly disrupted by trauma or disease. Using the VELscope, a wide variety of oral abnormalities can be discovered — often before they're visible to the unassisted eye.

Discovering soft tissue abnormalities is particularly important in the fight against oral cancer. Because the VELscope Vx assists in early detection, cancer can be caught before it has time to spread, potentially saving lives through less invasive, more effective treatment. 

Used on a regular basis, the VELscope Vx helps dental professionals find a wide variety of soft-tissue abnormalities, allowing practices to aspire to an advanced level of patient care. The VELscope Vx is:

• • completely safe

• • simple to use

• • no unpleasant rinses or stains

• • entire exam in about two minutes.

Occasionally, the VELscope system plays a crucial role in saving lives.

How Does the VELscope Work?

The VELscope handpiece emits a safe blue light into the oral cavity, which excites natural fluorophores from the surface of the epithelium through to the basement membrane (where premalignant changes typically begin) and into the stroma beneath, causing it to fluoresce. The VELscope's proprietary filter makes fluorescence visualization possible, by blocking reflected blue light, and by enhancing the contrast between normal and abnormal tissue.
 

Is the VELscope a Diagnostic Tool?

Like other visualization technologies, such as panoramic radiography, CT, MRI, PET and ultrasound, the VELscope is NOT a stand-alone diagnostic test. However, used in conjunction with the standard oral soft tissue exam, VELscope provides visual information that cannot be acquired in any other way.
Does the VELscope Generate "False Positives" for Oral Cancer? False positives occur when a diagnostic test mistakenly signals the presence of disease. The VELscope system is NOT a diagnostic test, and does not, consequently, generate false positives. As an adjunctive visualization tool, the VELscope helps dental professionals discover a wide range of unhealthy tissue in the mouth, including oral pre-cancer and cancer.

VELscope: Impressive New Findings

A recent 620-patient study at the University of Washington has provided additional insights into VELscope's potential. Within a dental school setting, the addition of VELscope to routine clinical examinations resulted in the detection of a number of mucosal abnormalities not detected by the conventional exam. Importantly, these abnormalities included not only a number of dysplasias, but also lichen planus and other inflammatory lesions.

The study highlights an aspect of VELscope that is sometimes overlooked. In addition to the detection of oral cancers and pre-cancers, the VELscope system is showing itself to be a powerful tool for the discovery of mucosal abnormalities such as:

• • Viral, fungal and bacterial infections
• • Ammation from a variety of causes (including lichen planus and other lichenoid reactions)
• • Squamous papillomas
• • Salivary gland tumours.

Understanding the potential of the VELscope system adds significant clinical and commercial value to its purchase, since the appropriate treatment of mucosal abnormalities can enhance care and add to patients' quality of life.

Benefits Patients, Clinicians and Practice

When used as an adjunctive aid in combination with traditional oral cancer examination procedures, VELscope facilitates the early discovery and visualization of mucosal abnormalities, including oral cancer. In one or two minutes, with no rinses or stains required, a VELscope system examination helps healthcare professionals assess their patients' overall oral health.