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Fewer products removed from BDIA Dental Showcase

An estimated 500 pieces of equipment had to be removed from this year's BDIA Dental Showcase. (Photograph: DTI)

Mon. 23 October 2017

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BIRMINGHAM, UK: Less counterfeit or non-compliant dental equipment than last year had to be removed from the BDIA Dental Showcase, a representative of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has revealed. Over the three days of this year’s show in Birmingham, the organisation found an estimated 500 pieces of equipment that may have posed a threat to public safety, MHRA investigator Maxine Marshall told Dental Tribune Online on Saturday.

The numbers are in line with a general trend of less critical equipment entering the marketplace in recent years. Particularly the distribution of high-risk equipment like handpieces and K-type-files has been on the decline, which is the result of the work that the agency has been doing with the British Dental Industry Association (BDIA), according to Marshall. Since 2014, both organisations have been running an awareness campaign aimed at dental professionals and the general public to educate about the possible dangers of fake or non-compliant products.

“I think the message is understood. There have definitely been fewer referrals of counterfeit products to MHRA,” Marshall said. “However, our work remains challenging because of the Internet. We constantly track suspicious websites and remove listings from online marketplaces.”

Marshall announced that her organisation is planning to talk to both organisers and exhibitors of the Dental Showcase to introduce measures that help identify possibly suspect products earlier in future exhibitions. The successful cooperation with the BDIA will also continue.

According to MHRA figures, over 10,000 individual pieces of non-complaint or counterfeit dental equipment are seized in dental practices per year in the UK. Recently, the General Dental Council had to suspend a 32-year-old dentist from Preston in Lancashire who, after inspections, was found to have purchased risky equipment on an Internet auction website at least three times.

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