Super Man is not the only superhero with enhanced vision. Green Arrow has telescopic vision, and Daken may have Chemo Vision? That's the ability to see pheromone output. And Hulk was dosed by gamma radiation so would he not then have 'Gamma Vision', the ability to see gamma radiation? Emotion Vision is the ability to read auras, and Ucario (Pokemon series) has this ability, and so too does every mother and grandmother on the planet, but only for their own kids.
As a recovering fiction writer, Fuel Ghoul is fascinated by cybernetic attachments that allow mortals to acquire superpowers simply by purchasing advanced electronics. The potential for stories is an big as Marvel Comics, bigger, because its real.
Among all of our society's professionals, there are few vocations more technologically demanding than dentistry. I've written here before on how dentists are unique because they must buy the latest gadgets in order to remain competitive in a saturated market.
Today many modern dentists have cameras that let them see cancer. Inspired by superheroes, this dentist in Barrie, Big Bay Point Dentistry has purchased some very advanced scientific gadgets that give her special abilities. This topic was decribed on Ancestry Guru: The Barrie Dentist with Xray Eyes, which is actually a play on a 1963 movie title, The Man With X-ray Eyes.
In the photo above, our superhero goes looking for oral cancer using the VELscope® System, a revolutionary hand-held device that provides dentists with an easy-to-use adjunctive mucosal examination system for the early detection of abnormal tissue. The rig uses blue incandescent light to enhance the visualization of abnormalities that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Looking through the back of the barrel, through a series of special filters, the dentist can see any abnormalities highlighted in the blue-violetwash, or rather the problem areas are not light but dark; the areas of concern that could contain maladies such as oral cancer or pre-malignant dysplasia show up as black marks or as dark spotches on tissue. VELscope can than also be used by oral surgeons to help identify diseased tissue around an obvious lesion, and thus help figuring out where to cut, and how much tissue to away with that cruel knife. Read more here in two excellent eMedicineHealth's patient education articles Cancer of the Mouth and Throat and Oral Herpes.
Dentist uses Velscope to look for cancer.
The VELscope® Vx Enhanced Oral Assessment System centers on a handheld scope that is used by dentists to help detect oral tissue abnormalities, including cancer and pre-cancer.
VELscope® Vx was developed by LED Dental and is marketed today an oral cancer-screening device. Important note, the Veloscope does not diagnose cancer, but rather it is to be used as an adjunct to the oral examination. When viewed through the barrel of the active device, suspicious tissue has a different fluorescence signature.
The Jan 2014 PubMed article, Fluorescence spectroscopic characterization of salivary metabolites of oral cancer patients reveals that a pilot study has been carried out using human saliva in differentiating the normal subjects from that of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients, using the autofluorescence spectroscopy at 405nm excitation. A difference in the spectral signatures between the saliva of normal subjects and that of oral cancer patients has been noticed. The possible reasons for the altered spectral signature may be due to the presence of endogenous porphyrin, NAD(P)H and FAD in the exfoliated cells from saliva.
What Does Oral Cancer Look Like?
In Canada, oral cancer is the 13th most common type of cancer (of the 23 different types of reported cancers). In 2009, the number of new cases and death due to oral cancer is predicted to be almost three times higher than that of cervical cancer and almost double the rates of liver cancer.
The five year survival rate for oral cancer is 63 percent compared to the survival rates of cervical cancer (75 percent), melanoma cancers (89 percent), and prostate cancer (95 percent).
In 2009, it's estimated there'll be 3400 new cases of oral cancer, and that over 1100 Canadians will die from the condition. For more info, visit the Canadian Cancer Society website.
Oral cancer can affect any of the working parts of your mouth or oral cavity, which includes:
- your lips
- the tissue that lines your lips and cheeks
- your teeth
- two-thirds of your tongue (the back third of your tongue, or base, is considered part of your oropharynx, or throat)
- your gums
- the area of your mouth underneath the tongue, called the floor
- the roof of your mouth
When should you worry about a bump, sore, or swelling in your mouth? Here are some common signs and symptoms of Oral Cancer,
- Sores in the mouth that do not heal within two weeks
- Dark red or white patches in the mouth
- Lumps located on the lips, tongue or neck
- Bleeding in the mouth
- Sore throat and difficulty with swallowing
Is a mouth ulcer a precancerous condition?
A mouth ulcer is the loss of some of the delicate tissue that lines the inside of the mouth which is otherwise known as the mucous membrane. Some causes can include certain prescription drugs, and infectious diseases such as herpes or thrush. In most cases, mouth ulcers are harmless and resolve by themselves in a few days without the need for medical treatment. Aphthous ulcers are recurring ulcers with no known cause that affect around 20 per cent of the population.
One person in North American dies every hour of every day from oral cancer related illness, and many of those who survive the disease are forced to deal with lengthy, painful treatment and permanent disfigurement. The main problem is that oral cancer is typically discovered in late stages, when the five-year survival rate is only around 30%.
More treatment options, potentially less invasive or radical treatments and better patient outcomes. Read about this Barrie dentist on Yelp and search for other dental clinics in Barrie that have this or other super devices.
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