Oral Biopsy is a surgical procedure to obtain tissue from the patient’s oral cavity, for microscopic examination, usually to perform a diagnosis. An Oral Biopsy is usually performed under either a local anesthetic, applied locally with infiltration near the lesion, or regionally, with a nerve block. Once removed, the biopsy is then sent to the University of Minnesota Oral Pathology department for evaluation under a microscope.  Once completed a diagnostic report is emailed with pathology results to our Periodontist. 

Drs. Hoover, Covin & Molleti will perform an oral cancer screening on every new patient and at every periodontal cleaning visit with our hygiene department. We realize that studies show that 1 in 80 persons can develop the early signs of oral cancer throughout their lifetime. Many of these lesions never cause the patient any sort of pain, so frequent monitoring is necessary to catch them early.