China dental labs

good friend's dental lab is going out of business as dentists have suddenly starting outsourcing dental work to China. Googled china dental outsourcing and shocked at labs that showed up. One or two day shipping from China via Fed Ex. At least fed ex is profiting. Heartbreaking tho.

there should be a law against outsourcing

He was concerned about what might be in them and he's concerned about the outsourcing. He was also disturbed that the several labs that used to make dentures and crown locally have all gone out of business. My crown came from a lab in Jacksonville - the closest lab that did the quality of work he requires.

While this dentist has never discussed politics with me, I get the impression that he is liberal. He contributes pro bono dental work through the health department so those who cannot afford dental work can get access.

until today never even knew this was legal.

Until then I had no idea they were doing this sort of thing. That is one reason I asked my dentist about it. Plus I knew one of the local dental lab owners slightly years ago. His lab didn't shut down because of foreign competition, but it made me more aware of the industry.

how many jobs the wealthiest among us have taken from the US and sent overseas never to return.
CEOs are highly rewarded for devastating US employment. How do we stop this?

and ask what lab they use? But how many people are like me and had NO idea this was happening?

are separate businesses from the dentist's.
It would be interesting to see if it is individual lab owners who have decided to outsource or are they chains OR are they being bought by holding companies and private equity firms (conglomerates) and then having the labor sent overseas.
Is there are "dental products" broker who is setting this up for individual companies.

Anyway - we need to understand what exactly is going on and how this is done. What are the tax benefits to them for outsourcing.

I just read about a holding co. that has bought up over 100 US manufacturing companies. They laid off all the workers, sent the labor to China and paid the CEO $46 million last year. And they are still acquiring more.

"The majority of dental devices being imported into the U.S. seem to focus on crowns and bridges as mentioned earlier in this document. In this vein, many are porcelain fused to metal (PFM). However, there are non PFM restorations also being imported such as gold crowns, partial denture frames and implant abutments. These particular products would be most prone for lead contamination in the casted alloy. The glaze for finishing a PFM could also have lead contamination."

"The issue of material safety in this product area is due to the possible use of non approved metal alloys."

"It’s too costly to make lead-free products," says alloy company owner Wang Qinjuan. "Chinese products have to be sold cheaply in foreign markets, or they are not competitive."

http://www.nadl.org/pdfs/NADLLettertoFDA09102007.pdf

News Reports: Dangerous Lead Found In Chinese Dental Crowns

http://www.keatingdentalarts.com/resources/video-reports.php