Biopsies in Brookline, MA

Oral biopsies in Brookline, MA, aren’t as common as other dental procedures like fillings and crowns. Nonetheless, having a dentist near you that can perform these procedures is valuable. At Brookline Oral Surgery Group in Brookline, MA, we’re specialists at performing oral biopsies in oral pathology.

Biopsy Indications

Oral biopsies are required when cancer is suspected. Several potential oral lesions could be malignant. Patients who have chronic ulcers, growing masses, induration, or tissue friability will most likely require tissue biopsies. The presence of pigmented areas that look different from the rest of the mucosa is also highly suspicious.

Other diseases can lead to these pigmented lesions or ulcers. Requiring a biopsy doesn’t certainly mean that a patient has cancer. The biopsy will help us confirm cancer or rule it out. Many patients who require a biopsy of a mouth ulcer end up having non-cancerous conditions like lichen planus or pemphigus vulgaris.

Types of Biopsies

A dental biopsy can be done in the office, so you won’t need to be admitted to the hospital. These procedures are painless since we inject patients with local anesthesia before acquiring the biopsy. Your mouth will feel numb for a few hours but will start feeling normal later during the day.

We can perform exfoliative cytology where we scrape the suspicious areas and can use the cells scraped for pathologic evaluation. Incisional and excisional biopsies are also done where we cut out the entire lesion or part of it. Finally, we can perform fine-needle aspiration cytology, where we use a thin needle to acquire the tissue sample.