Outsourcing dental work to China is a lot cheaper for companies and it takes less time to get the work completed. But the results now have federal agencies investigating.
About 20 percent of the country’s crowns and bridges are sent to China to be made.
A woman in Ohio had an adverse reaction to a crown. When it was pulled out and tested, it came back positive for lead.
In his 30 years as a dentist, Gerry Weingartner, of Cottage Grove, hasn’t had a lot of patient interest in what his dental products are made of.
"We're putting this restoration in their mouths, they should know what materials are in the restorations," he said.
Weingartner sends molds of bridges and crowns to a local lab that makes them in-house.
"I just prefer to use labs that I know what materials they're using and can back that up with a certificate or statement," he told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.
Gary Iocco owns Red Wing Dental Arts dental laboratory and follows strict regulations when building teeth. He said overseas labs don’t take these precautions.
"They don't have any regulations, they don't have any controls, no quality standards," he explained.
Iocco knows of a company that sent four crowns to China as a test. Once returned, they were contaminated with bacteria.
"One type of bacteria is found in feet, one is found in sewer water, and one is found on pens and pencils," Iocco said.
The lab is now testing those porcelain crowns to see if lead is in the stains and glazes that are used to make the teeth.
"Years ago when we had china from China, they used a lead glaze to seal it and make it shiny, and it had lead in it. That's what they're finding has lead in some of the stains and glazing," said Iocco.
He said patients don’t know where their lab work is being done. In fact, he said most dentists don’t even know.
They send in their dental work to what they think is a U.S. lab, not knowing that lab is outsourcing the work overseas.
Iocco said that would change if both patients and dentists start asking questions.
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