Give me a group of 100 people and I’ll show you 98 of them that love to squirt whipped cream straight from the aerosol can into their mouth. We all love it and that’s all well and good, and quite frankly, downright delicious. That is until you have a 2-year old that thinks the aerosol bathroom cleaner is the same thing as the whipped cream and proceeds to dispense the detergent into his mouth. (This may, or may not be a true story).
The point here, is that we need to be very careful what we are putting into our mouths for health and safety reasons. So then, I ask, what kinds of standards should be adhered to when it comes to cosmetic dental restorations? As with any type of medical practice the first rule is to do no harm. For reputable and quality dental labs, this means using only “white-market” materials that pass all regulatory requirements and standards. For a cosmetic dentist, it means verifying that the information regarding the materials used by the lab are indeed accurate and safe to be placed into the patient’s mouth.
Patient Safety First
Whether knowingly or not, whenever a dentist places unsafe material into the mouth of a patient that patient’s safety is now compromised. This is not a situation you want to be in, but it’s much worse if that patient is multiplied. What if you had been working with a lab that has been using “gray or black market” material for a lengthy period of time? How many patients might that effect?
Like a lot industry’s, most cosmetic dental labs are reliable and hold high standards of ethics. However, there are those that come as a wolf in sheep’s clothing, if you will. In order to be ultra competitive on pricing and even turn-around time, they find and use counterfeit or compromised materials.
Most state requirements could be tightened up a bit in order to eliminate many of the “wolves”. There are however, a handful of states that mandate a Material Disclosure as well as a Dental Laboratory Registration. When coupled together these two requirements make it much more difficult for labs with bad material practices to do business.
Our Dental Lab Standards
At Treasure Dental Lab, we hold ourselves to a standard far above that which is required. To be honest, we may have even lost a few clients because of the price point. But we wouldn’t still be around after nearly 50 years of business if our standards and reputation for quality weren’t on the highest levels. If you have any questions regarding our standards, how we disclose information, or anything else that can provide you the utmost confidence in our services, please don’t hesitate to call. We’d be happy to share. Well, information, that is. As for the whipped cream…you gotta get your own can.
