April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month: Utah Dental Group Offering Free Screening

At least one dental group practice, Apex Family Dental, a seven office practice spread across Salt Lake, Tooele, and Davis counties, is offering completely free oral cancer screenings to the community throughout the month of April. April is Oral Cancer Awareness month across the country. Although oral cancer only accounts for approximately 3% of all cancer cases, there are still estimated to be over 45,000 Americans diagnosed this year. Because oral cancer is often detected at a late stage, only 60% of newly diagnosed people live longer than 5 years. Regularly scheduled preventative check-ups allow your dentist the opportunity to diagnose more serious health concerns, such as oral cancer. Apex believes in the importance of the fight against oral cancer, which is why they are leading the way in raising awareness and diagnoses within their community.

For dental group practices and DSOs looking for information and resources regarding oral cancer and how to support oral cancer awareness month, the Oral Cancer Foundation website is a great resource with a download section that includes:

• Sample invitation letter to patients and others
• Sample press release about oral cancer and your screening event
• Ideas on how to market your screening event for good attendance
• Release of liability form
• Referral form
• Oral cancer facts sheet
• Advertising Flyer

Most dentists are able to do a quick oral examination of the tissues in your mouth to look for any noticeable cancerous growth or damage. Like all cancers, early detection is crucial for a successful recovery, and unfortunately, a simple visual check can often miss developing issues. That is why Apex Dental’s trained staff takes advantage of the VELscope Oral Assessment System, a state-of-the-art tool utilizing harmless blue light to detect distinct patterns of healthy and unhealthy tissues. This screening is both quick and painless and can be easily fit into your routine dental exam and cleaning.

Apex Dental will be including oral cancer screenings with every patient exam at no additional charge. In addition, anyone, regardless of if they are a patient at Apex, will be able to receive a free oral cancer screening just by visiting their nearest Apex office. These oral cancer screenings will be available at Apex’s locations in Sandy, Riverton, Murray, and Stansbury Park.

Sources: PR Newswire, Apex Family Dental, The Oral Cancer Foundation