Confidence and peace of mind
Featured Products Promotional FeaturesPosted by: Dental Design 25th September 2024
Dental practitioners are the natural leaders in the fight against mouth cancer.[i] Perfectly positioned to monitor changes in their patients’ oral health, dentists are patients’ first port of call to detect oral cancer in its early stages. Over 8,864 new cases of mouth cancer are diagnosed in the UK every year, with more than 3,034 lives lost.[ii] As such, it’s important for clinicians to be vigilant, and assess all patients for mouth cancer at each appointment.
Monitoring at-risk patients
The number of people getting mouth cancer in the UK has increased by 34% in the last 10 years and, worryingly, over half of all mouth cancers are diagnosed in stage IV.[iii] At this advanced stage, the changes of survival are significantly reduced, highlighting the importance of early diagnosis.
In order to detect cancer in its early stages, clinicians must conduct thorough examinations at every appointment. Those who are most at-risk, who smoke, drink alcohol, and have HPV, should be monitored particularly closely, as their chances of developing mouth cancer are higher.
Further to this, for patients who are at high risk due to lifestyle factors, such as drinking or smoking, provide cessation advice and offer support to those who would like help with quitting.
The solution
Whilst it can be extremely difficult to detect oral cancer in its early stages, there is now a quick and easy solution which can be implemented during a routine health check-up. The BeVigilant™ OraFusion™ System from Vigilant Biosciences® offers clinicians a non-invasive pre-diagnostic test, aiding them in the early detection of oral cancer. The system helps to identify patients who are at a higher risk of oral cancer, therefore changing the course of the patient journey for earlier detection, less invasive treatment, and improved outcomes.
The BeVigilant™ OraFusion™ System is a chairside tool that provides clinicians a result in 15 minutes or less. It detects the biomarkers associated with oral cancer to provide a highly accurate risk assessment.
Early-stage biomarkers
When an oral lesion is malignant, the cancerous cells produce certain protein-based biomarkers. Vigilant Biosciences® has conducted extensive testing to isolate two distinct biomarkers of oral cancer in its early stages. As such, to enhance testing accuracy, the BeVigilant™ OraFusion™ System analyses the concentration of both biomarkers (p16 and EGFR), rather than a single biomarker.
In addition to this, the system takes into account clinical risk factors to provide the most comprehensive risk assessment possible. The device determines how various lifestyle factors may impact each patient’s risk of oral cancer. Factors taken into consideration include a patient’s age, gender, alcohol consumption, and tobacco use.
Non-invasive testing for widespread use
The non-invasive and fast nature of the device makes it suitable for use across the majority of patients. By offering BeVigilant™ OraFusion™ testing to your patients, it is easier to make treatment decisions with confidence. Instead of watching and waiting for symptoms to develop before referring, the device allows you to make informed decisions as early as possible about whether to escalate care, such as referring patients for specialist care.
Further to this, the point-of-care test fits comfortably into a standard oral health assessment. This means that, rather than waiting for results from a laboratory, clinicians can get results and discuss next steps in one appointment. The information needed to escalate care is rapidly accessible, for faster and more effective treatment prospects.
Previously, dental practitioners faced uncertainty when addressing potential oral cancers, attempting to identify early signs or being forces to wait and see if lesions develop. Now, the BeVigilant™ OraFusion™ System offers the clarity to allows clinicians to make informed decisions, with the data-driven confidence to refer patients quickly and detect cancers early for the best patient outcomes.
With oral cancer becoming more prevalent, and with the rise in cases caused by HPV, it is more important than ever to be vigilant, and monitor every patient for signs. The BeVigilant™ OraFusion™ System makes oral cancer assessments simple, used alongside visual assessments to offer confidence and peace of mind.
For more details about the BeVigilant™ OraFusion™ System, visit the Total TMJ website www.totaltmj.co.uk/products/bevigilant-orafusion/, or email info@totaltmj.co.uk
Author: Phil Silver
Founded in 2018, Total TMJ was created by Phil Silver, after a long career in medical devices, which gave him the knowledge to set up in his own right. The Dorset company is a specialist provider of medical devices. It distributes innovative technologies from leading healthcare manufacturers to dentists and clinicians around the UK.
Their vision is to combine a portfolio of complimentary medical devices that both help the clinician and improve the outcome for their patients.
The privately-owned family business Total TMJ in Bournemouth fully supports the clinicians it works with through educational support by offering local and international surgeon peer to peer led courses. If you would like to find out more about their courses, please click here.
Total TMJ also supplies innovative medical devices offering solutions for temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) & trismus within the healthcare sector.
[i] https://www.mouthcancerfoundation.org/professionals-screening-guide/
[ii] https://www.mouthcancerfoundation.org/
[iii] https://www.mouthcancerfoundation.org/mouth-cancer-facts-and-figures
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