Patients’ health put at risk by imitation gold implants
Dental patients are being put at risk by dentists who are using fake gold dental implants in a bid to save money.
The Independent on Sunday yesterday revealed that some dentists were using fake gold crowns and dental bridges and using them on patients who believed they were having gold restorations. In dental laboratories all over the UK, thousands of cheaper, gold coloured restorations and implants are being manufactured for both NHS and private use.
Some private patients may choose to have the cheaper alternative because they want to save money; however, NHS dentists are not allowed to use the substitute restorations, which are made from copper and aluminium based alloys and therefore NHS patients should only receive real gold implants and crowns. The cheaper alloys are thought to be dangerous because they have the potential to release harmful toxins and gases into the body.
Records are no longer collected by the NHS so it is difficult to estimate the extent to which this practice is occurring in the UK; however, of the thirty dental practices called by The Independent on Sunday as part of their covert investigation, seven were willing to discuss the cheaper alloy restorations and were therefore breaking the law. Dentists agree to do such work because it means they make more profit; since the law on salaries changed in 2006, dentists are paid on a monthly basis according to a pre-determined number of units of dental activity; the unit cost includes the materials and therefore saving money on laboratory materials means that dentists walk away with more money at the end of the month.
Last month a dentist was struck off after an investigation found that he had fraudulently claimed a large sum of money from the NHS for work he never did; he was also found to be using fake gold restorations and was reprimanded for this crime as well.
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