Here at Valley Family Dental Group, we are proud to offer a variety of biopsy procedures to help treat your personalized concerns:
Incisional biopsy
An incisional gum biopsy is the most common method of gum biopsy. Your doctor will remove a portion of suspicious tissue and examine it under a microscope.
A pathologist can determine if there are cancerous cells in the removed gum tissue. They can also verify the origin of the cells, or if they’ve spread to the gum from somewhere else in your body.
Excisional biopsy
During an excisional gum biopsy, your doctor may remove an entire growth or lesion.
This type of biopsy is normally used to take out a small lesion that’s easy to reach. Your doctor will remove the growth along with some of the nearby healthy tissue.
Percutaneous biopsy
Percutaneous biopsies are procedures where a doctor inserts a biopsy needle through your skin. There are two different types: fine needle biopsy and core needle biopsy.
A fine needle biopsy works best for lesions that are easy to see and feel. A core needle biopsy provides more tissue than a fine needle biopsy. This can be useful when more tissue is required for your doctor to make a diagnosis.
Brush biopsy
A brush biopsy is a noninvasive procedure. Your doctor will gather tissue by forcefully rubbing a brush against the abnormal area of your gum.
A brush biopsy is often your doctor’s first step if your symptoms don’t call for an immediate, more invasive biopsy. It’s used for an initial evaluation.
If the test results show any suspicious or abnormal cells or cancer, your doctor will likely do an incisional or percutaneous biopsy to confirm a diagnosis.