A new website has been launched in the States to inform the public concerned about recent reports of lead contamination in dental crowns imported from overseas.
The website – www.whatsinyourmouth.us – is the brainwave of the National Association of Dental Laboratories (NADL) and provides consumers with an opportunity to contact the association’s staff with questions regarding the news reports about the potential for such products to be contaminated with harmful amounts of lead.
The original scare centred on a patient from Ohio who was made ill by lead contamination from an imported dental restoration.
The TV station that broke the story further reported that an independent analysis of dental crowns imported from offshore dental laboratories found some products to be contaminated with dangerous levels of lead.
The case confirms long-standing concerns of the NADL that for years has urged federal and state regulators to implement more stringent regulation to protect patients receiving dental restorations.
Here in the UK, dental experts argue that without disclosure, both the patient and the dentist are without protection and fear that if the situation isn’t addressed, then it is only a matter of time before there is a similar case as in the US.