Guideline Recommends Against Light-Based Adjuncts for Oral Cancer Detection

New living guideline conditionally recommends against light-based adjuncts (e.g., tissue fluorescence) for oral squamous cell carcinoma detection—in adults with or without mucosal lesions—based on very low certainty evidence. Biopsy remains the diagnostic reference standard.

• Living systematic review using GRADE Evidence to Decision framework; panel issued 2 conditional recommendations (against light-based adjuncts) and 2 good practice statements urging routine clinical oral examination for all adults in primary care.
• Conditional recommendations apply to both screening of adults without mucosal abnormalities AND to guiding biopsy decisions in those with mucosal abnormalities; certainty of evidence rated very low for both.
• Key limitation: very low certainty evidence base underlying all recommendations limits confidence; local resource and equity considerations are explicitly flagged when adapting recommendations.

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