What Happens At Your Exam?

Your Comprehensive Dental Exam
includes several key components.

Step 1 - The white light exam.

The first step is a conventional "white light" exam in which the dentist or hygienist looks for lesions in the oral cavity with the naked eye and uses palpation to feel for any bumps in the neck or face. This generally takes about 3 minutes.

Step 2 - The VELscope™ exam.

The VELscope™ handpiece emits a safe blue light into the oral cavity, causing tissue fluorescence from the surface of the epithelium through to the basement membrane, where pre-malignant changes typically start, and in the stroma beneath. The special, patented optical filtering in the handpiece allows the clinician to immediately view the different fluorescence signatures from the oral tissue to help differentiate between normal and abnormal tissue. Abnormal tissue, such as dysplasia or cancerous lesions, typically appear as irregular, dark areas that stand out against the otherwise normal, green fluorescence pattern of surrounding healthy tissue. This technology thus helps dental practitioners identify potentially dangerous growths that might have been missed with the naked eye, yet this exam takes only 2-to-3 minutes.

For more information on oral cancer please visit The Oral Cancer Foundation

Digital Diagnosis

In addition to a traditional exam our office uses state-of-the-art LED technology to detect cavities. The Midwest Caries I.D.™ is able to identify significantly more caries than traditional radiographs. In fact, clinical studies have shown that the Midwest Caries I.D.™ is 80% accurate at detecting interproximal caries and 92% accurate at detecting occlusal caries. Compare these numbers with 50% and 39% for traditional radiograph detection and it's easy to see how the Midwest Caries I.D.™ can dramatically improve our ability to detect caries in posterior teeth.

For more information on what Dr. Schuller provides during your comprehensive exam, and to set up an appointment, please call us at (212) 256-9268 or visit our website.