Restorative dental work could be hazardous to your health

Restorative dental work could be hazardous to your health


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Ed Yeates reportingThe National Association of Dental Laboratories (NADL) this week is warning patients about having restorative work on their teeth outsourced to China.

The red flag was triggered from a woman in Ohio whose dental bridges came back from a lab contaminated with lead and radioactive isotopes.

A dental lab in Sandy is one of hundreds in the state and among thousands across the country that do restorative work on your teeth.

Restorative dental work could be hazardous to your health

Technicians at the lab build crowns and bridges from tailor-made molds. Following FDA and NADL standards, the company uses powdered porcelain that is fused on high noble alloys like gold, palladium and platinum. The teeth are fired in a furnace and custom stained, glazed and then sent back to your dentist along with an alloy certificate.

Arrowhead is doing restorative work on approximately 800 to a thousand teeth per day, and we're only talking about one national lab.

This particular lab does not outsource its work, but the NADL says 18 percent to 20 percent of the labs do, including at least five in Utah. "You'll see laboratories that are almost like tooth brokers where none of the manufacturing is done in the laboratory, but everything is done overseas, and they're just like a distribution channel," said Scott Henkel, executive vice president of Arrowhead Dental Laboratory.

For the patient in Ohio, the outcome was not good. Her bridge work came back to her dentist's lab from China and into her mouth with 210 parts per million of lead and some radioactive isotopes.

The NADL fears this is just the beginning. With pressure to cut costs, outsourcing is simply cheaper.

In fact, the competitive challenge for companies like Arrowhead that refuses to outsource. "I would say that we, right now, are probably 30 percent to 40 percent greater in price than those offshore laboratories," Henkel said.

NADL suggests patients ask their dentists where the crowns and bridges are being fabricated.

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