Diagnostics

X-rays

At Pueblo Dental Center we use digital x-rays, which means less radiation exposure for you, and the image is much clearer for your dentist.  You should be given an x-ray only for clinical reasons as determined by your dentist.  X-rays are a part of your clinical record and your dentist should retain the original images.

Exams

An evaluation is performed to determine any changes in your dental and medical health status. This includes periodontal screening and may require interpretation of information through additional diagnostic procedures.

VELscope®

At Pueblo Dental Center we utilize the VELscope® system. The VELscope® is used together with your primary treatment in oral exams as needed to detect and prevent the growth of oral cancer. This tool has the potential of identifying pre-malignant changes that may be missed with the naked eye.

Oral cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the U.S., yet it is the only form of cancer that has not seen improved survival rates in the last 50 years.  Statistics show a sixty percent increase in patients less than forty years of age in the past three decades, and twenty-five percent of oral cancer patients have no symptoms and never used tobacco.

The Oral Cancer Foundation recommends all adult patients be examined regularly. Oral cancer’s low survival rate is due partially to the difficulty of identifying potential cancerous lesions with the naked eye. Until recently the majority of oral cancers have been discovered in the late stages (3 or 4), which have dismal survival rates.

Enhanced screening technologies are now available to help us detect potentially cancerous lesions much earlier in stages with high survival rates.