Lead and Bacteria found in Dental Crowns made overseas (we don't use overseas labs)

Many of you have seen stories about lead in toys that came from China. Now there are other reports surfacing of lead and bacteria found in dental crowns and bridges made in China.

To give a little background. Dental Crowns and Bridges (as well as dentures and partial dentures) are not made by dentists, they are made at dental laboratories. Some dentists use labs right here in our metropolitan area (like we do), some use labs in other parts of the country. The problems spoken of in these articles are about crowns made in other countries, most commonly China.

Here are some of those stories:

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6078693&version...

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/health/stories/2008/02/28/DentalLead.ART...

http://wwwphp.dispatch.com/vplayer.php?clip=2008_02_27_Denist_Work_To_Test.wmv

At Meiners Dentistry, we have ALWAYS and will continue to ALWAYS use local dental labs in the metropolitan area where we know the individuals making the dental prosthesis personally. We support the local economy, and would not participate with foreign laboratories in the name of cutting costs to increase profit margins.

We are proud of the relationships we've established our local dental labs, and feel they provide products with the finest workmanship and materials available. There's no question it costs us more, but it is the type of quality we would want for our own mouths, and those of our family, friends, and patients.