Grey market products are products sold via unauthorized suppliers or dealers, counterfeit, stolen, or smuggled into the country where taxes are not paid, this means there is no guarantee that the product you purchase, may or may not be authentic, for some products, they can be repacked and relabeled tampering the expiration dates, making it more dangerous for people to consume or use.
In the dental profession, this may cause potentially fatal results when using expired or non-compliant dental products. As dentists, we should ensure that the products we use are up to standards and conform with international and professional regulations. Guarantee the safety of patients under our care, so it is our responsibility to provide safe effective oral health care.
How can this affect you?
When counterfeit or unregistered dental products are used, the materials are not guaranteed to serve their purpose.
· For dental fillings, composite, amalgam, and the like, we are not sure if and how long will it last posing more danger to the patient if it is removed unnoticed and makes the tooth vulnerable to breaking and or patients may swallow the filling.
· Counterfit Implants may not hold on the bone as it should be, which may cause bone problems and other systemic health issues.
· Drill bits may break while drilling a tooth and may puncture the oral cavity with a possibility of hitting a fatal nerve or vein.
All that said, the dental profession should be more aware of these illegal and dangerous activities, yes you get a cheaper product but you put your patient and your profession at risk.
With the increase of online shops, counterfeiters can set up various shops making it easier for them to sell counterfeit products, and they sell their products at incredibly low prices and there is not much that can be done to stop them. So it can now be alarming that these goods are illegal which leaves the dental profession and their patients at risk.
· Counterfeit products are unregulated and make them ineffective or are a danger to patients.
· Illegal products make their way to the market without paying taxes, and duties they do this by smuggling it into the country, wrong handling packaging and storage are possible to conceal it thus causing damage to the product leaving it ineffective.
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