Posted on 02/27/2008 5:42:59 PM PST by Patriotic Thunder
Thank you...we learn something every day—especially about china.
My dentist has a neat computer set up that really makes a great crown. Plus if you break a crown since he made it he makes you a new one FREE. I like getting my crown the same day and not having to wear a temporary crown that almost always comes off before the next visit to have the outside crow placed. He said he is one of only a few in Arkansas who make their own. I think the computer and set up was very expensive but he is already rich and likes the artistic aspect.
Where do most dentists get dental supplies for fillings these days? I’m wondering what might be in those.
everyone here is acting like a bunch of hysterical women. one crown has been “reported” to have contained lead amongst millions placed every year. i’m a dental lab tech and have been making crowns for twelve years and i’m very skeptical regarding this accusation. first of all getting porcelain to bond to metal is very tricky. you can’t just throw in some lead and expect everything to bond as usual. you have to work within certain coefficients of expansion for both porcelain and alloy to be able to bond . second there is only a couple of manufactures of porcelain in the entire world. from these few manufactures come all of the porcelains used worldwide. these porcelains will only fuse to certain formulated alloys. for example the porcelain i currently use must be applied to an alloy that has a coefficient of expansion between 14.2 - 14.9. lead just doesn’t just find its way into porcelains or dental alloys, it wouldn’t bond correctly. my belief on all this hysteria is based on the nadl trying to squeeze out small dental labs which account for more than half of all dental restorations made in the US. the nadl is run and backed by large corporate dental labs who are building and buying labs in china, mexico, costa rica, korea, etc. like its going out of style. some companies have formed that act as middlemen for smaller labs allowing them to outsource to foreign countries just like the big labs. other companies have formed domestically that allow small labs to utilize new technology such as zirconia core crowns as mentioned in an earlier post. the nadl is pushing the fda to mandate that all labs who outsource to foreign and domestic labs, for all or part of a crown, must register with the fda, which comes with huge compliance expenses. notice their not trying to stop foreign outsourcing. they’re pushing for this expense because they know most small labs will fold leaving most of the market for the corporate labs who can afford the compliance expenses. once this happens they can start sending their lab work to their company owned foreign labs and make money hand over fist. this may sound far fetched to an outsider but i’m in the industry, i read the journals, i see the advertisements from corp. labs for cheap outsourced crowns, i know who is on the nadl board, many of the ceo and presidents of the larg corp. labs. thankyou for letting me vent.
So me new toothies good r badz?
made in china or U.S.A. you probably are at greater risk of being struck by lightening on a clear day than finding lead in your mouth.
Glad you vented! Thanks for the info. : )
actually, the ohio lady is suing (that’s one case), the reporter in the story sampled 8 labs in china, and one of those came back with lead also (that’s two cases), then you have at least two other cases that are out there (now four cases) that haven’t gone mainstream. If your a dental lab technician, then you might want to head over to dentaltown and take a look for yourself. You’re spot on when it comes to the NADL, the current president(Joe Gerace) of NADL is/was a partner for the largest privately-owned dental lab corporation (Dental Services Group) in the United States and sends to china regularly.......makes you wonder doesn’t it?
ok two maybe four cases, it just seems way too convenient for the nadl. all of this couldn’t have come to light at a better time, right in the middle of their push for new fda regs. i’m still skeptical. when the lead paint in toys from china came to light, as awful as it is, i understand lead in paint. paint benefits from having lead in it just like gasoline. i know lead paint in kids toys is horrible i’m not ok w/ that. i’m just saying lead makes paint better. lead in no way benefits dental restorations. it just seems to me people are playing on the public fears. if you use the words china and lead along with any product in the same sentence you instantly create fear in uninformed people. i’m not saying lead wasn’t found in four crown i’m saying the only thing missing is the silver plater it was served on to the nadl.
There is a website where you can post questions and get them answered by dentists:
www.dentalanswerspro.com
there is also an article about lead and dental work
It is a public service website run by dentists.
-Z
That’s it, the lead found in one of the crowns (maybe more) was in the porcelain (glass color looking structure). They are using it to cover the metal substructure. If it isn’t right to be in kids toys, how can it be right to be in someone’s mouth? Just so you know......Kids toys were tested to have 91 ppm of lead content, one of these Chinese crowns had 212 ppm of lead content.....
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