Mike - Many dentists don't see a lot of oral cancer. When I first went to my dentist (about a year ago) and asked if he did an oral cancer screening, he said "Yes, with every patient" but I knew from reading OCF info describing what an oral cancer screening should include, that his "oral cancer screening" was NOT the recommended one. I gave him copies of OCF's info which included the Velscope. So recently when I had an appointment coming up I printed out LOTS of stuff from OCF and dropped it off at his office several days before my appt so he would have time to read it. The assistant at my dentist's office informed me that they had just gotten the Velscope. At at my next appointment I did get a complete oral exam following the OCF guidelines! The OCF info also has a special description for dentists and one for patients here:
http://oralcancerfoundation.org/dental/index.html One other thing, as Christine mentioned, usually dentists do refer patients to an Oral surgeon which is what happened in my son's case. The oral surgeon is more likely to have seen and thus be more knowledgeable with oral cancer and know what it looks like. Hope everything goes well for you! Keep us updated.
