What are people saying about Throat Scope? Pediatricians, general practitioners, primary care physicians, dentists, speech-language pathologists and more across 155 countries are using Throat Scope. Read reviews from professionals across all scopes of practice.

Throat Scope makes experiences for yourself and your patient faster, easier, and most importantly – more accurate. Throat Scope frees up an extra hand instead of the old flashlight-depressor combo by placing the light source directly inside the mouth.

Throat Scope is also used as a speech and articulation tool, an examination tool, and an oral cancer screening tool.

Here’s what people are saying about Throat Scope:

“This is an absolute essential for every dental and medical practitioner to provide the best possible oral assessment and ability to discover oral cancer in its earliest stages.”
Jo-Anne Jones – Dental Hygienist & Oral Cancer Motivational Speaker

:This is a product that I have been using like crazy with a few of my /k/ and /g/ kids, actually all of my kids. It also looks like a light saber which makes every kid want to do it. Finally a therapy tool we can afford!”
Jenna – Speech Language Pathologist – Speech Room News

“I’m a school nurse and with all the strep and flu going around, I am going to fly through my box of 100!
Throat Scope is life changing for me! It makes checking kids a breeze. I am awestruck! I’m a “one man band” it’s singing praises to professionals and family and friends. Brilliant!”
Paula – School Nurse

“We are loving using our new Throat Scopes in the clinic. What a difference it makes to be able to see inside our ‘littlies’ mouths quickly and easily. What a great idea! Also very useful for identifying air escaping down the nose during speech for our Cleft Palate clients as it so happens!”
Kim – Speech Language Pathologist

“Throat Scope is high-tech compared to the organic incumbent.”
ZD Net – Worldwide News Media

“Throat Scope provides medical professionals with one free hand, a light source located inside the mouth for a fast, accurate and pleasant oral examination experience.”
The Daily Floss Worldwide News Media

“One word: Genius.“
SLP Toolkit – Speech Language Pathologist

“It lights up the whole mouth! You can see a lot more than redness at the back of the mouth #brilliant“
Eva Grayzel – Motivational Speaker for Oral Cancer

“Parents and school nurses who have students with special needs who have trouble getting their kids open their mouths long enough to see what going in the back of their throat. At least with Throat Scope, you get a clear look even if it is quick!”
Carla Butorac – Speech Language Therapist

“This award comes with a lot of “firsts”. While only a couple of Australian companies have been honoured with an Edison Award since their inception in 1987, Holland Healthcare is the first Australian female led company to be recognised. It is also the first Australian medical device to win.”
Hunter Headline Newcastle Newspaper

“Cannot believe my daughter did not gag. She was so excited to have Throat Scope that she didn’t mind the usual discomfort that goes along with an oral examination!”
Katy – Speech Pathology Mama

“No more juggling with a torch and a wooden craft stick to look into a kid’s gob. It’s a blessing for clinicians and parents. Who knew oral cavity examinations could be so much fun?”
The Australian Newspaper

“The Throat Scope is great. More kid friendly than a traditional tongue depressor and pen-torch, for assessing children’s mouth and throat.”
Kathryn Harber – Speech Language Pathologist

“This product is well made and arrived really quickly. I love the product and it’s been very useful already.”
Melody Humphries- Speech Language Pathologist

“It works, reduces the materials I need, and engages kids. It’s a win.”
Jenna – Speech Language Pathologist – Speech Room News

“Having another ‘tool’ to help illuminate challenging areas of the mouth including the tongue, floor of the mouth, palate and throat makes earlier discovery more feasible. Great adjunct for screening examinations and oral self exams.”
Jo-Anne Jones – Motivational Speaker on Oral Cancer

“This is an SLP’s dream!”
Amanda Schaumburg – Speech Language Pathologist – Panda Speech

“My kids love it, it has a light saber element to it.”
Nacole – Registered Nurse – NurseNacole

“I have 3 of these scopes, one in each exam room. I purchased 150 count of the blades. I use them not only in assessment but in treatment with patients. I place one blade with each patient for sensory targets, or useful in resistive exercises and in demonstrations of therapeutic exercises-side by side.
I also use these with my current cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment . I am able to take photographic images for communication with the radio-oncologist and or ENT to quickly manage mucositis; thrush and lesion development.”
Tamatha Rutherford – Speech Language Pathologist

“This is a great product especially for patients with structural abnormalities, oral apraxia or macroglossia which can make visualizing the oral cavity a real challenge! Much more effective than using tongue depressor in one hand and pen light in the other!“
Anne Brockman – Speech Language Pathologist

“Throat Scope is a game changer for OME and oral exams”
Graham Speech Therapy – Speech Language Pathologist

“Best Intraoral Exam Tool Ever.“
Dr Keith Grimes – UK Doctor

“My area of specialization in dermatology is blistering diseases. Patients may have erosions and blisters inside the mouth as well as other mucous membranes and of course, on the skin. During these patient reviews, I have found it time saving and patient friendly to wear the lanyard which attaches to a device called a ‘throat scope’ which contains a battery-powered light. There is a disposable see-through plastic tongue depressor which is individually wrapped that I attach to this in order to easily view inside the mouth and take photos with my free hand. It is also useful for examining the mouth for skin cancers and infections.”
Dedee F. Murrell, Professor of Dermatology, University of Sydney, Australia

“I could be a salesperson for Throat Scope. I love this tool and use it daily as a clinician . As a clinical teacher, I’m constantly introducing it to the next generation of SLPs. Not only is it functional, but it is also fun. A” must have ” when working with pediatrics.”

“Received my delivery today (arrived within days of placing my order). Had a little play around and am very impressed with the quality of manufacture and ease of use. What a valuable tool to have at home and very affordable. I hope to see my GP using this next time I have to visit.”

“Just received this, and with frequent mouth ulcers I expect it will help. BUT, I ordered a 2nd set for my neighbor who has 15 grandkids, the oldest being 16 yrs old, and the youngest being 2 yrs, 1 yr, and 3 days old. Giving it to her since most of the kids are in and out of her house every single day. Thanks for a simple but genius product!“

“Great product! So useful for dental assessments particularly when assessing clients outside the dental clinic. (ie. in ages care facilities) and apprehensive children.”

“I love this product – I love this product, all the oral cavity can be seen and even deep into the pharyngeal walls. The light is bright enough and the scope is clear to allow a better view. The throat scope is easy to use, once you connect the clear tongue depressor to the white attachment the light turns on and it’s ready to use. Clear disposable plastics are available and can be placed on the clear tongue depressor for each person.”

“A must have for every SLP! I am a speech-language pathologist and Throat Scope is so helpful for my job! This makes completing oral mech exams so much easier!”

“Came as pictured, words great, very fast. This came exactly as pictured and very quickly! It was super helpful checking my kids after tonsillectomies for healing process and at work for oral mech exams.”

“Good for moms to check their kids throats.”

“These work great. Take it from the Doc, these are worth the cost.”

“Effective to detect problems in the throat. These are very useful when my children get sick.”

“FANTASTIC! This a great product and it performs exactly as advertised. It makes it real easy to see in the persons mouth. I highly recommend it.”

“Great tool! This is an awesome invention. Completing an oral assessment or checking your kids throats or teeth- light and tongue blade in one hand!!!”

“Great product, I even bought one for my doctor!”

“Useful and affordable.”

“I cannot wait to use these in the upcoming school year. This product will make oral examinations much easier than holding a flashlight in one hand and a tongue depressor in the other.”

Throat Scope is the world’s first all-in-one light and tongue depressor that makes for more accurate and easier assessments and articulation therapy.

Original blog by Kim from Activity Tailor

Oral Mech Exams

Let’s talk assessments and articulation. I need to come clean here. I don’t do a lot of oral mech exams. I’ll do a cursory look at how the tongue is moving and see if the can modify the movement with some verbal cues during assessments, but I’m hesitant to alienate a child I might start seeing for therapy during their assessment by holding their tongue down with a tongue depressor and really getting in there. (And I would never try for a gag reflex! Not with my population who would be much more likely to throw-up on me than give me any neurological insight.)

I do pull out Dum-Dum, flavored tongue depressors and the occasional toothette to help kiddos see or feel where I’m asking them to position their lips/tongues, but… now I’ve got an even better trick up my sleeve.

How can you see what’s actually going on in the mouth during assessments?

The main problem is that it’s so hard to see what’s actually going on in there. I always feel vaguely like I’m spelunking. Which is why I was so keen to try out Throat Scope after I’d seen several photos in my social media feed over the summer and heard all the positive feedback.

What I – and the kiddos – love about Throat Scope

It’s justified. My little ones were so excited about the Throat Scope (which is definitely not what I call it in the speech room–speech light saber is (ironically) much less ominous sounding) and looking in their mouths and looking at all the stuff in there. All of the sudden they were attending to their tongue position, seeing and feeling what I was asking them to do. Makes assessments and articulation exercises much, much easier!

Everyone seemed to find the plastic, even though it’s unflavored, much more palatable than wood tongue depressors.

How does it work?

Here’s how it works. You have a handle with the light inside that you use each time. You buy a box of clear, plastic, disposable depressors that simply slide on to the end (pushing down the toggle and turning the light on). When you’re done, just toss the clear plastic part.

Except most of the kiddos I tried this with begged to keep their “saber” even though they wouldn’t be able to make it illuminate their light. I even had a couple kids bring the saber back to our next session!

To read the original blog by Activity Tailor, head HERE

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Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLP and Amy Graham, MA, CCC-SLP show us how to do an oral-facial exam with Throat Scope.

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Oral Cancer Facts and Stats

April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month, when our attention turns once again to a cancer that continues to increase each year. It’s true that five-year survival rates have improved, but they aren’t getting better because of earlier discovery or innovative screening techniques. Instead, these rates correlate with the increase in HPV-related oral and, in particular, oropharyngeal cancers that are more sensitive to treatment modalities, elevating survival rates.

The collection of research data from the national cancer registries once predicted that by 2020, HPV-related oropharyngeal cancers would surpass HPV-related cervical cancers as the anatomical site with the highest burden of HPV-related cancers. Well, we have far surpassed this prediction. Again, based on data from national registries, HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer surpassed HPV-cervical cancer in 2015!

Being Informed About the Risks of HPV is Uncommon

The biggest concern is that the majority of the North American population is unaware of the risk this very common virus presents. There is limited knowledge of the human papillomavirus being the culprit behind this escalation. How common is HPV? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that it is so common, almost every American adult will have an infection at some point in his or her lifetime.

For the majority of the population that has a normal functioning immune system, the virus will be cleared from the body often without awareness or recognition, similar to the common cold virus. For those who incur a persistent infection with a high-risk strain of the virus, such as HPV-16, there is an increased risk for transformation from an infection to malignancy.

Other Risk Factors of Oral Cancer

The CDC further reports that HPV is believed to be the cause of 70% of oropharyngeal cancers in the United States. Smoking and alcohol historically have been the two most well-known etiologic pathways. Many of our patients feel that if they are non-smokers and non-drinkers, they won’t have an inherent risk for oral and/or oropharyngeal cancer. This mindset needs to be eliminated, and education needs to abound.

Oral Cancer Screening is Our Responsibility as a Dental Professional

As a dental professional, our professional standards of practice require us to perform an extraoral and intraoral soft tissue examination, which includes an oral cancer screening, at least once a year on all adult patients. The oral cancer screening is not an option. It is our responsibility. Furthermore, educating our patients about the importance of self-examination at home and initiating a self-referral is a supportive and strong step toward earlier discovery. This was the impetus behind the launch of the North American “Check Your Mouth” campaign.

Check Your Mouth Campaign

The North American launch of the public campaign has been a long awaited aspiration of the Oral Cancer Foundation and specifically of its founder, Brian Hill, a stage IV oral cancer survivor. Throat Scope, the world’s first all-in-one illuminated tongue depressor, is the ideal tool to facilitate effective self-examinations for the public campaign. The partnership between the Oral Cancer Foundation and Throat Scope has created an organically driven movement gaining momentum across North America.

Through education provided on the Check Your Mouth website, our patients will have an elevated awareness of what to look for and what shouldn’t be ignored, reinforcing the need for self-referral and examination by a dental professional. The hope and objective of the campaign is to eliminate the long period between regularly scheduled professional care and the opportunity for assessment of an abnormal finding.

Regular Professional Oral Cancer Screenings are Essential

This by no means detracts from the importance of regular professional oral cancer screenings. In fact, it reinforces their importance. The key to saving lives is the earliest possible discovery of something abnormal. When an oral lesion is discovered in the early or localized stage, five-year survival rates are impacted significantly, accompanied by an improved quality of life for survivors. Oral and oropharyngeal cancers are still found at later stages primarily due to a lack of public awareness and a lack of routine opportunistic screening programs being employed.

It Only Takes FIVE Minutes!

Providing our patients with five life-saving minutes in the form of a professional visual and tactile oral cancer screening examination is first and foremost the most important step to earlier discovery of an abnormal lesion. The next step is directing them to invest five life-saving minutes in performing a self-examination of their face and neck and inside their mouth on a monthly basis. It is through this familiarity that a new finding will be most readily recognizable. A persistent finding, being anything that does not resolve within two weeks, should be further examined by a dental professional.

The Check Your Mouth website provides an educational video illustrating a step by step self-examination of the face and neck and inside the oral cavity and visually accessible areas of the oropharynx. It also provides an overview of what to look for, complemented by a visual gallery of normal versus abnormal findings. The often subtle, lifesaving symptoms are outlined along with risk factors. The recommended tools are available for purchase through the website as well.

Together, we can make positive inroads in ensuring that we are doing our part to save lives and prevent the later-stage discovery of oral cancer.

About the Author

 Ms. Jones is an international award-winning speaker and was selected to join Dentistry Today’s Leaders in CE for the tenth consecutive year in 2020. She is also an Advisory Board Member for Holland Healthcare. While preparing to present her research on HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer to her national association, a family member received a diagnosis of late-stage HPV tonsillar cancer, succumbing to the disease 16 months later. Ms. Jones proudly partners with the Oral Cancer Foundation in conveying the urgent need for changing the way in which we screen for oral cancer to meet the needs of today’s population. She can be reached at via email at jjones@jo-annejones.com.

Disclosure: Jo-Anne Jones is a contributor to the project management team for the Check Your Mouth campaign. She also serves as an advisor to Throat Scope and is involved in the North American launch of Throat Scope into the dental community.

Read the original article HERE.

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Speech Room News – Throat Scope Review

I love simple ideas that are genius. Today’s post is a Throat Scope Review and it’s one of those simple genius ideas.  You know, the kind that make you say, “Why didn’t I think of that?” A company from Australia, Holland Healthcare, reached out to me a few weeks ago and I was instantly interested in their product. Throat Scope is an illuminated tongue depressor. Wait, seriously, why didn’t I think of that?!

They sent me a Throat Scope and set of blades to test out and I am so impressed with this product. The simplified review? It works, reduces the materials I need, and engages kids. It’s a win.

Throat Scope was started by a company in Australia. It was actually featured on Shark Tank Australia.

The details:

• The unit has a base with a light that shoots into a clear recyclable blade.
• The unit costs about $20 and 50 replaceable blades are about $15.
• The battery life is 20 hours
• The blades slip off with just a simple release.
• It looks like a lightsaber and kids (and adults?) LOVE that.
• It provides a view of the soft palate and uvula.
• No more holding a pen light and tongue depressor while trying to position the client’s body/face.

My brother was in town and I forced him to let me inspect his oral cavity using the throat scope. I was surprised at the amount of light the Throat Scope puts out. It definitely works!

The disposable blades make it perfect for healthcare.

If you want more details about the Throat Scope, visit their website.

This product was provided for review, no other compensation was provided and these opinion belong to me! And that’s my Throat Scope review :)

Read the original blog by Jenna at The Speech Room News HERE.

About the Author

My name is Jenna Rayburn Kirk, M.A.,CCC-SLP. I’m an ASHA certified pediatric speech-language pathologist. I work in the Columbus, Ohio area. I’m a graduate of The Ohio State University and Ohio University. My clinical experience has focused on pediatric speech and language therapy. I’ve worked with children aged 2-15 in schools and clinics. My current interest is in preschool-aged children. I work in a public school full-time in central Ohio.

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Check Your Mouth: The Early Self Discovery Campaign for Oral Cancer

The Oral Cancer Foundation (OCF) has launched a new nationwide campaign aimed at the early self discovery of oral cancers. The Check Your Mouth Campaign  is an interactive website designed to help individuals learn to self-discover suspicious tissue changes in their own mouths.

“Early discovery of oral cancers has profound implications. Individuals whose disease is found at early stages of development through opportunistic screenings have less invasive treatments, reducing treatment related morbidity, and there is also the opportunity for better long-term outcomes.”

-Dr. Ross Kerr, Oral Medicine Specialist at NYU

The new website, www.checkyourmouth.org, provides the knowledge and tools needed to recognize and find early symptoms of disease. The process is a very simple visual and tactile process. A person who finds suspect areas in their mouths that persists for over two weeks is then prompted to seek further evaluation from a dental professional.

With a step-by-step video, a very effective and inexpensive intra-oral light from Throat Scope, and examples of abnormalities to look for, this interactive campaign’s objective is to reduce late stage discovery of oral cancer. Throat Scope is available here.

About Oral Cancer

Oral cancer is incredibly deadly, killing one person in America every hour of every day, all year. In 2018, the foundation predicts there will be approximately 51,550 individuals diagnosed with an oral or oropharyngeal cancer.

Of those newly diagnosed today, only about 60% will be alive in 5 years.

The high fatality rate is largely due to late discovery of the disease.

To compound the problem, a national screening policy is not in place, and many individuals are not even aware that oral cancer is a significant and increasing common issue in the U.S.

“Reaching the general public with a message can be an expensive idea for a small nonprofit like OCF. Our partner organizations and the members they represent have been long-time leaders of performing oral cancer screenings as a part of the services they provide to patients. These organizations have been champions of routine visual and tactile screenings, and through ongoing advocacy efforts have made them part of the routine screenings dental hygienists perform.”

-Brian Hill, Executive Director of OCF, who is also a survivor of a late stage oral cancer

To help meet that challenge, the Oral Cancer Foundation has engaged two key strategic partners, the American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA) and the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association (CDHA). The combined membership of these partners exceeds 200,000 dental hygienists in the U.S. and Canada.

Now the foundation looks to these long-term partners in screening to introduce their patient populations to the idea of self-exams at home between professional appointments. The foundations should also expose their patient population to the Check Your Mouth concept and website.

How Can Early Self Discovery Benefit You?

Self-examination has become a major part of the general cancer conversation. Other cancer organizations have created campaigns to encourage people to discover abnormalities early. Notable examples are a program to discover deadly melanoma skin cancers early, and self-exams through breast palpation for breast cancers. Check Your Mouth hopes to do the same with their early self discovery campaign.

With the measurable impact of early discovery in other forms of cancer, the Oral Cancer Foundation has moved forward with a similar objective. Oral cancers and their premalignant tissue changes are often easily visible with the naked eye. The model is not so different, with a learning curve that is short and simple to become effective, and an examination process that can be accomplished in about 5 minutes.

The OCF educates and encourages the public to learn the common risk factors mostly found in lifestyle choices such as smoking for oral cancer and avoid them. However, they cannot stop oral cancer from happening.

Clearly, finding the cancer early is the next best idea. Check Your Mouth makes early self discovery easy.

Check Your Mouth is a campaign with the objective of producing better long-term outcomes, which is a very tangible opportunity we can capitalize on today.

Read the original blog by the Oral Cancer Foundation HERE.