“Today I introduced a law to address a health safety issue in our community that is long overdue. Currently, there are no regulations requiring disclosure of the place of origin for dental prosthetics or their raw materials that could be implanted into people’s mouths. The United States has federal regulations requiring the disclosure of the fiber content, country of origin, manufacturer identity, and care instructions for clothing, but literally nothing for dental. This is shocking and disappointing, especially in light of the potential for the use of lead in some prosthetics manufactured overseas. In Erie County, that stops today. Under this law, both manufacturers and retailers of dental prosthetics will be required to disclose the country of origin of the raw materials used in the devices, as well as the country where they were manufactured. I sincerely hope that my colleagues will support this common sense legislation so that we can start a groundswell across the country. People have a right to know where dental devices are coming from before having them implanted into their mouths,” said Majority Leader Lorigo.
The announcement of the law was made at Evolution Dental Science Laboratory on Tuesday, July 11. Also in attendance were Andy Jakson, CEO of Evolution Dental; Dr. Ronald Jarvis, DDS, MSD; Joe Procopio, President of Pro-Esthetics Dental Lab; and Dr. Ian Walker, DDS.
“We are excited to have Legislator Lorigo and the Erie County Legislature put the safety of Erie County’s dental patients first,” said Andy Jakson, CEO of Evolution Dental. “This critical legislation moves the dental industry into the 21st century. Dental prosthetics manufactured from inferior materials in third world countries can be unsafe to the oral health of individuals.”
More information regarding this law can be found at the Erie County Legislature.
