a new component of my dental checkup

[MissingOne]

Last week I went for a dental checkup and cleaning after a lapse of three or four years. The dental hygienist had a new weapon in her arsenal, some kind of fluorescent light that she shone around in my mouth looking for lesions that could indicate oral cancer. Since the test was new to me, I asked her about risk factors for oral cancer. The very young-seeming hygienist ran through a fairly predictable list of things like smoking and diet, and then rather shyly mentioned that one of the main reasons the test has become a standard part of the dental exam is the incidence of HPV transmitted through oral sex.

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, but I hadn't really thought of my dental exam as part of getting tested for STDs. Oh well, I'm glad they're doing it.

 

[BORKO]

Last week I went for a dental checkup and cleaning after a lapse of three or four years. The dental hygienist had a new weapon in her arsenal, some kind of fluorescent light that she shone around in my mouth looking for lesions that could indicate oral cancer. Since the test was new to me, I asked her about risk factors for oral cancer. The very young-seeming hygienist ran through a fairly predictable list of things like smoking and diet, and then rather shyly mentioned that one of the main reasons the test has become a standard part of the dental exam is the incidence of HPV transmitted through oral sex.

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, but I hadn't really thought of my dental exam as part of getting tested for STDs. Oh well, I'm glad they're doing it.

Does that mean this could be used to look for cervical cancer too?

 

[Chef99]

I recall hearing about this product/procedure last year sometime. If I remember correctly, it was developed by a local company....

 

[MissingOne]

Does that mean this could be used to look for cervical cancer too?

The dental hygienist told me that the spectrum or frequency of light she was using is also used to look for cancer in the lungs. The physical device that they would use to get the light into lungs must be very different though.