Low prices appeal to all of us. We look for a great deal on everything, from our homes to our chewing gum. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to save money. However, amazingly low prices on dental products and materials may indicate imitations – gray market goods that aren’t approved and don’t come with a warranty.
How can you know which dental products are imitations?
A suspiciously low price is your first indication. 3M ESPE offers a brochure featuring a photo of two products with the labels side by side. You can’t tell the real from the fake. So, in truth, the only way to avoid purchasing products that will put you and your patients at risk is to know your distributor.
What’s wrong with gray market dental supplies?
Some products are expired and relabeled. They may look like and be labeled as a name brand product, but the company on the label (3M, for instance), does not warrantee the item. When your patients are at risk, your practice is at risk.
Counterfeit products even extend to digital cameras used for medical photography! Check out these sites and announcements to learn more about gray market goods and how protect your practice and your patients from gray market goods.
Kerr, November 2006: http://dentalinsider.googlepages.com/kerrletter.jpg/kerrletter-full.jpg.
3M ESPE, 2007: http://www.box.net/shared/ip2r801m4u.
Journal of the Canadian Dental Association, April 2002: http://www.cda-adc.ca/jcda/vol-68/issue-4/229.pdf.
Per The Journal of the American Dental Association, offshore dental labs (the gray market) was a topic of interest in February, 2005 at The Dental Summit conference in Chicago: http://jada.ada.org/cgi/content/full/136/6/783.
Digital Cameras on the gray market: http://www.photomed.net/faq.htm#a9.