LED Dental funds oral cancer detection training project in Vietnam
Velscope to play key role in effective oral cancer screening program in developing world
LED Dental Inc. announced it is bestowing a gift of $8,000 on the University of British Columbia (UBC) that will be directed to the Dr. Catherine Poh Oral Cancer Research Fund at UBC in support of a specific research project titled “Prevention Strategies in Early Detection and Diagnosis of Oral Cancer in Vietnam.”
The gift will fund the travel costs to Vietnam in 2015 of two research trainers who will deliver training for various levels of health professionals, including those from the Oncology Hospital and the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City.
As a part of a research project, the LED Dental’s hand-held Velscope Vx Enhanced Oral Assessment System, which helps with the early discovery of oral cancer and other oral disease, will be the center of the program in Vietnam. LED Dental has also agreed to provide the research project with four Velscope Vx and cameras as a gift, which is valued at $13,392.
“Oral cancer is one of the most common cancers in Vietnam, more than six times higher than for patients in the US and Canada,” stated Dr. Catherine Poh, a professor and oral pathologist at UBC and British Columbia Cancer Agency. “One in four patients admitted to the Oncology Hospital is diagnosed with advanced oral cancer. The VELscope® Vx will be used as the first step of the mobile screening program to enhance the visualization of the oral mucosal changes.”
Dr. Poh added, “With LED Dental’s support, we have the opportunity to provide access to oral cancer screening to high-risk communities in Southern Vietnam, where the disease burden is high.”
“We are pleased that the Velscope Vx will play a major role in helping to address oral cancer issues in the developing world,” stated Dr. David Gane, CEO of LED Medical. “This gift enables us to help people living in countries like Vietnam, where the incidence of oral cancer is not only high but often fatal. We can contribute to improvements in health globally, while finding new markets for the Velscope Vx.”
The Velscope Vx Enhanced Oral Assessment System is one of the dental industry´s leading adjunctive screening devices for defining the extent of a wide range of oral mucosal abnormalities, from viral, fungal and bacterial infections to cancer and pre-cancer. To date, an estimated 25 million Velscope Vx exams have been performed by more than 12,000 dentists in 23 countries.
About the UBC Dentistry-Vietnam Oral Health Research Center
In 2012, the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of British Columbia received an in-kind gift of space valued at $8 million from the Ho Chi Minh City National Hospital of Odonto-Stomatology to create an oral health research center. Oral cancer occurs frequently in Vietnam often with fatal outcomes. One in 500 babies in Vietnam is born with a cleft lip or cleft palate and 80 percent of children suffer severe tooth decay. The center focuses on research areas that include oral cancer, dental caries and craniofacial birth defects and raises local and international researchers’ knowledge of oral health care and knowledge transfer.
About LED Medical Diagnostics
Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, LED Medical Diagnostics Inc., through its wholly-owned subsidiaries LED Dental Inc. and LED Dental Ltd., provide dentists and oral health specialists with advanced diagnostic imaging products and software, in addition to the Velscope Vx tissue fluorescence visualization technology. Backed by an experienced leadership team and dedicated to a higher level of service and support, LED Dental is committed to providing dental practitioners with the best technology available by identifying and adding leading products to its growing portfolio.
