RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Scientific literature shows the great potential of fluorescence visualization (FV) in the detection of lesions in the skin and mucosa, though its use has been intermitant. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the detection of oral cancer and oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD) with and without the use of fluorescence visualization in population screening. PATIENTS AND METHODS: During a population screening for oral cancer and OPMD, general practice dentists (GPD) performed conventional oral examination (COE) in the first year, and in the second year the FV was inserted in the oral examination. When detecting any suspicious lesion in oral mucosa either by COE or FV, patients were referred for final diagnosis by a specialist in oral medicine. Biopsy was performed in cases of high-risk lesions to confirm the diagnosis, presence of epithelial d (ED), and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). RESULTS: During the oral cancer prevention campaign in the first year, benign neoplasms were the oral lesions with higher diagnosis rate (26.2%), followed by non-neoplastic proliferative processes (23.8%) and potentially malignant disorders (21.4%). During the second year, with the implementation of the use of FV, OPMD were the lesions with higher diagnosis rate (37.7%). The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for the detection of potentially malignant disorders were respectively equal to 94.4%, 96.2% and 96.1%. The detection of lesions with epithelial dysplasia for these amounts were respectively equal to 100%, 92.4% and 92.6%. CONCLUSION: FV presented high diagnostic values when used by GPD and improved the detection of OPMD in population screening. FV has potential to be used as an adjunctive method for early diagnosis of oral high-risk lesions.