Oral Cancer Screening &/Or Soft Tissue Biopsy Techniques with Dr. Robert Convissar (On-Demand)

Course Description:​

One person every hour of every day dies from oral cancer. The five year survival rate is less than 50/50. Why? Because we as professionals do not do all we can to diagnose oral cancer at its earliest stage, when the 5 year survival rate can be as high as 80%.

With the technology on the market today, there is no reason for a dentist to miss an early diagnosis of a lesion. There are many excellent diagnostic tools to help dentists perform complete oral cancer exams. Once a lesion is discovered, what's a dentist to do? Biopsy! Over 80% of all soft tissue biopsies are performed by oral surgeons. The biggest reason for general practitioners not performing this essential service is lack of sufficient training in the simple techniques for soft tissue biopsy.

Course Objectives:

The purpose of the course is to familiarize the dentist and hygienist with a simple oral cancer examination technique using the newest fluorescent visualization instruments, and then perform soft tissue biopsies utilizing instruments you already have in your office (scalpel and sutures) – or better yet, your laser!

The course will also review basic oral pathology and familiarize the participant with the procedures for recording the pertinent information and sending the biopsy to the oral pathologist for examination. At the conclusion of this course, the participant will be able to perform a complete oral cancer examination, be familiar with basic oral pathologies seen in everyday general practice, know a simple procedure for simple soft tissue biopsy, when to perform the biopsy, and when to refer. The participants will be able to confidently start performing soft tissue biopsies in their offices upon completion of this course.

NOTE: This is not a “brush biopsy” course - this course focuses on incisional and excisional biopsy techniques. The course uses real-time video of actual biopsy procedures.

Hands-On Portion:

The hands on portion will be performed on pig tongues and jaws. Participants will learn and have the opportunity to:

• Know how to perform a complete oral cancer examination using the latest technologies
• Know how to recognize basic oral pathologies seen in everyday general practice
• Know how to perform, when to perform, and when to refer a biopsy.
• Be able to start performing soft tissue biopsies in office first thing tomorrow morning!