Not at all. The majority of spots in the mouth don’t contain abnormal cells. However, spots can indicate to your doctor exactly where unhealthy cells may be located. 

Most of the time oral spots are benign, but it’s important to get them tested. Just like a pap smear, OralCDx® allows doctors to identify abnormal cells at an early stage and remove them before they can harm you—before the spot has a chance to progress to oral cancer.

It’s great that your doctor performs an annual “visual” screening. It’s an important first step. He’s looking for changes in your mouth such as areas with color and/or textures different from the surrounding areas. 

The BrushTest is a virtually painless way for your doctor to test these areas, or “spots”. Unless there is a clear cause (such as a cheek bite or rubbing tooth), there is no way for him to look at these oral spots and know that they don’t contain unhealthy cells. 

The OralCDx BrushTest provides evaluation and results by expert pathologists that can guide your doctor in further management.

Yes. The BrushTest is necessary because doctors can’t treat the patient until they know what something is. Some dentists may choose to use a light to look around your mouth to find spots, but they are not equipped to perform a formal screening. The light cannot tell why the spots are there, which spots are healthy, and which contain abnormal cells. To do this, the cells have to be analyzed under a microscope by pathologists. OralCDx is used to help determine the cause of your spots and to make sure that they aren’t precancerous. It’s similar to the pap smear.

Even though it’s minimally invasive and done right in the dentist’s office, the OralCDx BrushTest® has been shown to be at least as sensitive as a scalpel biopsy in ruling out oral precancer and cancer. Its accuracy has been demonstrated in large published clinical studies, including a major clinical trial conducted at 35 U.S. dental schools. 

Its use by over 30,000 dentists has already detected precancerous cells in thousands of patients, long before they could progress to oral cancer.

Most patients say that it feels like a stiff toothbrush being rubbed on the spot. Different areas of the mouth will feel different depending on sensitivity. You can use a topical anesthetic to ease any potential discomfort.