Lead in Dental Restorations
The Dental Insider is reporting on a story about an investigation of lead found in dental laboratory restorations. An Ohio woman had a reaction to unsafe levels of lead found in her three-unit bridge. The dentist eventually disclosed that he used a Chinese lab. I agree with DI - I think this story is only going to get bigger. Some of you may get questions from your patients about what lab you use. Some may want to see certifications of materials used.
Interesting stuff - read about it by clicking here to visit The Dental Insider.
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It is the Dental Patient’s Right to Know where their dental crown was made and exactly what materials The Dentist has made a permanent part of the Patient’s Mouth.
In light of recent revelations, Crowns of foreign origin must be considered to be sources of chronic lead poisoning either with or without a Certificate of Alloy Content.
The only certain way to quell the fears is by recalling each patient whose mouth harbors such a crown, and definitively ruling out the possibility of Lead Contamination.
Last week (Feb. 27, 200
our local Ohio newspaper, reported that on lead-contaminated dental crowns that some Ohio dentists have imported from China. http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/n/content/gen/ap/OH_Lead_Dental_Products.html
Earlier this month Chinese contaminated Heparin was reported by the to have caused the deaths of four US patients. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/16/us/16baxter.html?scp=3&sq=chinese+heparin&st=nyt
Last summer, The Times identified China as the source of containing antifreeze that killed patients in Panama and other countries in Latin America.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/02/us/02toothpaste.html?scp=2&sq=chinese+toothpaste&st=nyt
The New York Times also gave full coverage to the use of by Chinese toy manufacturers. Chinese environmental standards are much looser and have not seen lead-contamination as a hazard. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/02/business/02toy.html?scp=1&sq=chinese+lead+paint+toys&st=nyt
Unfortunately, in search of reduced costs, products made under these dangerous loose standards are being imported under the noses of the US regulatory agencies like the (FDA, EPA). Some dentists are importing Third World health standards and evading US Government regulatory protections to lower their costs. Everything can be made cheaper. But it is unconscionable that the bargain is purchased by placing a patient in jeopardy.
Some dentists have outsourced their dental lab work to China, using DHL, FedEx, or UPS to ship round-trip to China in as little as four or five days.
It could be very injurious to your health to have a lead-containing-crown in your mouth.
“I guess that tells me I need to be a little bit more concerned about other potential sources of lead,” said Dr. Marcel Casavant, who runs central Ohio’s lead program and poison control center. “I never would have guessed somebody would have put lead into a piece or a part installed into a human being.”
Casavant said adults can live with lead poisoning for years and not know it.
“The symptoms are what we call non-specific - a little ache or a pain - abnormal bowel function,” Casavant said.
Even high blood pressure and kidney trouble could be symptoms, according to Casavant.
In addition to the physical damage to the body’s organ systems, there are a number of subtle neurological symptoms that are also associated with lead poisoning:
Behavioral symptoms in adults
• Irritability
• Unexplained changes in mood or personality
• Changes in sleep patterns
• Inability to concentrate
• Memory loss
Neurological symptoms (caused by effects of lead on the nervous system)
• Poor coordination
• Weakness in hands and feet
• Headaches
• Seizures
• Paralysis
• Coma
(as listed in WebMD)
Because the symptoms of lead poisoning are painless, until irreparable damage has occurred, it is important that all sources be identified and removed from the patient’s environment to prevent further damage. If a lead-contaminated crown is otherwise functioning also without symptoms, its poisoning could continue for years.
It would be a signal public health service to have dentists identify which of their patients have received crowns imported from china. The patients would be empowered to evaluate the potential source of environmental pollution concealed inside their body. Early identification is a low-cost preventive-medicine step that could head off disaster before it occurs.
It is overdue to issue a Recall of Crowns that were made overseas to determine which crowns are leaking poisonous lead contamination.
Consumer protections have long mandated recalls of automobiles to prevent engine fires, failing brakes, and other defective parts. In the medical field recalls have been issued for cardiac defibrillators and mislabeled medicines.http://www.usrecallnews.com/2007/11/company-increases-amount-paid-for_26.html” \t “_blank
Lead poisoning does not present with the drama of an automobile fire or brake failure. Indeed, it takes a long time for the damage to become noticeable. But we all know we would want to know “yesterday” if we had a lead-contaminated crown in our mouths, (or a leak in our car’s brake system.)
It is time for Dentistry’s first Nationwide Recall.
In Dentistry the regulatory powers are diluted among the Several States. The issue of the safety of imported dental devices does not reside in any single agency or authority. The final arbiter of the safety of dental devices is an individual’s dentist.
There may be solitary disasters occurring in afflicted individuals mouths and brains right now, in slow motion, as you are reading this.
I feel that Organized Dentistry should not pass the buck on this issue merely because we have yet to codify the needed internal-environment protections into our Health-Law.
[...] I have nothing whatever against implants, dental or otherwise. Well, except the ones where you get high levels of lead inside your own head. But it feels rather like walking into a room and finding a completely different person wearing the [...]
Joyce, I think you are overreacting. I don’t think you have noticed the the cups you drinking out of, the silverware you are using and the clothes you are wearing are also made in China. Have you tested them for lead lately?
[...] Read a previous post on lead in crowns [...]
[...] Read an earlier post about lead in crowns [...]