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NEWS RELEASE
Virginia Beach, VA,
September 30, 2011 – Under the stewardship of Dr. Dag Zapatero, DDS, MAGD,
visiting faculty at The Pankey Institute, in coordination with the Virginia
Dental Association Task Force and the National Association of Dental
Laboratories, the Virginia Dental Laboratory Safety Act was passed by nearly
unanimous vote in the Virginia Dental Association House of Delegates. The Act now moves on to the Virginia State
Legislature, in January of 2012.
Do you know where your
crowns and dental work are fabricated?
You would think by a local dental lab, but you would be wrong. It is estimated that 38% of all dental work
prescribed in the U.S. is coming from one of 27 countries involved in
offshore fabrication of dental work. Virginia does not currently register, nor
regulated dental laboratories. There
are no national or international standards for how dental work should be
produced. China is by far the largest
exporter of dentistry to our shores.
It may not seem to be much of a problem until you look at the numbers. Of the roughly 70 million crowns produced
in the US each year 27 million are coming from an offshore producer, and
those numbers are increasing. Not all
offshore labs produce poor products, some are actually state of the art, and
some have campuses of 400 to 800 technicians.
Dental labs doing business in Virginia are not required to tell
dentist who produced the dentistry, nor what materials it contains.
Dr. Dag Zapatero felt
compelled to act by addressing the concern for point of origin disclosure,
the decline of the American lab technician workforce and patient safety
concerns. Over the course of ten
months, he presented before a number of governing organizations, was
appointed to a Virginia Dental Association Task Force, and partnered with
Eric Throne of the National Association of Dental Laboratories to co-author
new legislation that would become the Virginia Dental Lab Safety Act (VDLSA).
The Virginia Dental
Association and its member dentist have spoken with the nearly unanimous
passage of the Virginia Dental Lab Safety Act. The VDLSA requires registration of dental
laboratories with the Virginia Board of Dentistry to protect the public
health and safety by establishing clear communication channels between dental
laboratories and dental manufacturers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In short, laboratory registration is the
most cost effective way to ensure materials, and point of origin disclosure
while maintaining choice and allowing for technological advancements in
dentistry.
Members of the Virginia
Dental Association Task Force included:
·
Dr. Scott R. Miller (Chair)
·
Ms. Karen Crace, CDT
·
Dr. Craig B. Dietrich
·
Dr. Michael J. Link
·
Dr. Michael Morgan
·
Dr.
Dag Zapatero
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