The 90-Second Scan That Could Change Everything: Oral Cancer Screening in Mayfield Heights

Most people walk out of a dental cleaning thinking about their teeth — whether they need a filling, how their gums are looking, what their whitening options might be. Very few think about what else happened during that appointment. And yet, at Exceptional Smiles at Landerbrook in Mayfield Heights, something quietly significant takes place at every comprehensive exam: a non-invasive oral cancer screening that takes less than two minutes and has the potential to be one of the most important health checks a patient receives all year.

Oral cancer doesn’t get the public awareness that other cancers do. It doesn’t have a dedicated month of widespread coverage or the cultural familiarity of breast or colon cancer screenings. But the numbers tell a sobering story. Roughly 58,000 Americans are diagnosed with oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer each year. The five-year survival rate when the disease is caught early — while still localized — is above 80%. When it’s diagnosed after it has spread to regional lymph nodes or distant sites, that rate drops dramatically. The difference between those two outcomes, for many patients, comes down to whether someone looked.

That’s precisely what oral cancer screening is about. And the technology Exceptional Smiles uses to do it has changed what “looking” means.

What VELscope Actually Does

The human eye is a remarkable tool, but it has limits. Tissue changes that precede visible abnormalities — cells that are beginning to mutate beneath the surface of the mucosa — don’t show up in standard white-light examination. They look normal. They feel normal. They wouldn’t trigger concern in a standard clinical check.

VELscope uses fluorescence visualization to change that. The device emits a safe, blue-spectrum light that causes healthy oral tissue to fluoresce and appear bright green. Abnormal tissue — areas where cellular metabolism has changed in ways consistent with early dysplasia or malignancy — absorbs the light differently and appears dark relative to the surrounding healthy tissue. This contrast allows the clinician to visualize tissue changes that are simply invisible under standard examination.

The examination is completely painless and takes approximately 90 seconds. No dyes, no discomfort, no recovery. The lights in the room are dimmed, the VELscope device is held near the open mouth, and the clinician systematically reviews the soft tissue — the tongue, the floor of the mouth, the cheeks, the palate, the gum tissue — for any areas of concern.

At Exceptional Smiles at Landerbrook, VELscope is part of the advanced technology suite that Dr. Jason Schermer and Dr. Andrea Londono-Shishehbor have integrated into comprehensive care. Dr. Schermer, a Northwestern University graduate who completed his dental degree at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Dentistry and then a general practice residency at the Cleveland Clinic, has been voted one of America’s Top Dentists consistently since 2007 — a recognition built on the kind of thorough, patient-first care that includes attention to health concerns extending well beyond the teeth. The practice’s commitment to technology, from 3D imaging to the Solea laser to VELscope, reflects a philosophy that the best dental care is also comprehensive health care.

Who Needs Oral Cancer Screening — and Who Thinks They Don’t

The most dangerous misconception about oral cancer is that it only affects people who smoke or drink heavily. While tobacco and alcohol are significant risk factors, the epidemiology of oral cancer has shifted substantially in recent years. HPV (human papillomavirus) — specifically HPV-16 — has emerged as a major driver of oropharyngeal cancers, and these cancers are occurring in patients without traditional risk factors: younger adults, non-smokers, people who would not consider themselves at elevated risk.

This doesn’t mean that traditional risk factors no longer matter — they absolutely do. But it does mean that “I don’t smoke, so I don’t need this” is a conclusion that the science no longer supports.

Risk factors worth discussing with your Mayfield Heights dental team include:

• Tobacco use in any form: Cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, and snuff all increase oral cancer risk. No form of tobacco is safe.
• Heavy alcohol consumption: Alcohol alone increases risk, and the combination of tobacco and alcohol creates a multiplicative, not merely additive, risk increase.
• Sun exposure: Lip cancer, particularly of the lower lip, is associated with chronic sun exposure — a relevant consideration for anyone who spends significant time outdoors.
• HPV infection: HPV-related oropharyngeal cancers have been increasing consistently for two decades and now account for a significant percentage of new oral cancer diagnoses in younger patient populations.
• Age and sex: Men over 50 have historically been the highest-risk demographic, though the HPV-related shift has changed the age distribution significantly.
• Previous oral cancer history: Patients with a history of oral cancer have substantially elevated risk for recurrence or second primary tumors.

It’s worth noting, though, that roughly a quarter of oral cancer patients have no identified traditional risk factors. This is the core argument for universal screening — not targeted screening based on perceived risk.

What Happens After a Suspicious Finding

The vast majority of VELscope screenings are unremarkable, which is exactly the outcome everyone wants. When the technology does flag an area of concern, that finding does not mean cancer. It means that area warrants closer attention.

The next step is typically a follow-up evaluation — sometimes within two weeks, to see if the finding resolves (which many benign irritations do), sometimes more immediately depending on the clinical picture. If further evaluation is indicated, a biopsy of the tissue can definitively characterize it. Most lesions that get biopsied are benign. But the ones that aren’t, caught at this stage, are the ones where early detection genuinely changes the prognosis.

The clinical value of VELscope is precisely in this middle step — providing objective information that helps the clinical team make better decisions about which areas of concern warrant urgent attention and which can be monitored.

The Appointment That Does More Than You Think

A dental visit at Exceptional Smiles at Landerbrook already accomplishes quite a bit: professional cleaning, removal of calculus that home care can’t address, evaluation of existing restorations, X-rays that reveal what’s happening between and below the teeth. Oral cancer screening with VELscope adds another layer to that visit — one that takes 90 seconds and costs nothing in additional appointment time.

Exceptional Smiles at Landerbrook is located at 5825 Landerbrook Drive, Suite 121, in Mayfield Heights, serving patients throughout Mayfield Heights and the broader Greater Cleveland area. New patients can reach the team at (440) 335-5930; existing patients at (440) 483-1003. Appointments are available Monday through Friday, with Thursday evening hours for added scheduling flexibility.

The scan that matters most is the one you actually get. Schedule yours today.