Dental industry calls halt on dangerous dental imports
Wednesday August 26, 2009
A dentists association wants the Therapeutic Goods Administration to regulate dental prosthetics sourced from overseas after they have been noted to contain banned substances.
Oral Health Professionals Association president Rob Boshier said that 30 to 40 per cent of dentist devices such as crowns and bridges are sourced overseas and some contain heavy metals such as lead and beryllium.
He said that the TGA should reconsider their regulations and stop condemning Australian-made dental products when overseas products are dangerous.
"The things that are being tabled are things like mandatory reporting of adverse outcomes [and] full disclosure to the patient as to where the laboratory appliances are being sourced," he told ABC News Online.
He claims that dentists use inferior overseas products to save money and sometimes do not realise where the products even come from.
