The Importance of Knowing Where Your Dentist is Sending Your Dental Restorations.

If your Dentist is using Dentek, Inc. Dental Laboratory located in Lenexa, KS for your crown and bridge work then you are guaranteed that your Dentist has chosen a Certified Dental Laboratory to fabricate all of your dental restorations.  National Board of Certification awards its certification only to laboratories which demonstrate the adherence to the highest standards.  Your dental restoration is always custom designed and handmade in the USA by highly trained and experienced technicians.  Only the finest dental materials available today are used in the fabrication process.  Have your Dentist contact Dentek, Inc. Dental Laboratory today.  Read the article below to see the importance of knowing where your dentist is sending your dental restorations.

Dental Work Made in China Might Contain Lead

By ROBERTA BASKIN and SANDY BERGO

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Tony Prestipino, who owns Artifex dental lab in Virginia, ordered 10 crowns from three dental labs in China on behalf of WJLA. Crowns from China sell for $30 to $50 to dentists, who then can charge up to $1,200 to patients who don’t know the crowns were made in China. A Chinese lab representative told Prestipino over the phone, “We follow this military ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy.” Within five days the crowns arrived. “The first thing I see is that this is a horrible color and a horrible shape,” Prestipino said. Those crowns had problems similar to Lewis’. They didn’t match the prescription and never would fit properly. When that happens, Prestipino said, “bacteria seeps right into it. You will end up needing a root canal.” If Lewis’ bridge hadn’t fit so poorly, she never would have had it removed or tested for toxic materials. Next, WJLA had the China-made crowns tested for lead at NSL Analytical in Cleveland. Using a sophisticated process that takes days to complete, the lab did not find lead in any of the metal portion of the crowns. But in every case, lead contamination was discovered in the porcelain parts of the crown at some very high levels. “We never expected to see lead in teeth,” said NSL president Larry Somrack. In the crowns tested, the lead levels were as high as 490 parts per million. That’s five times higher than the 90 ppm a Congressional committee wants the U.S. to set for toys. Faye Lewis believes that money is behind the increased use of dental work from China. “It’s a cost factor. It’s the big dollar,” she said.

ADA Conducting Investigation

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it does not believe the lead levels found pose an immediate health risk and isn’t recommending people delay dental work, or have prior work redone. Meanwhile, the American Dental Association is conducting an investigation of its own. The ADA plans to analyze up to 100 crowns blindly, about 50 percent will be from the U.S. and the other half from foreign countries. Cliff Carey, an analytical chemist with the ADA, says the organization hopes to finish the study within a year and will provide the results to the CDC. In the testing conducted so far, Carey said that no lead was found in the crowns. The ADA is testing porcelain powders and has found traces of lead, but in very small amounts, he said. The ADA encourages patients to discuss any concerns about the safety of their dental crowns or other prostheses with their dentists and will continue to share information on this issue.