The National Federation of Dental Technicians Associations held a press conference at the Legislative Yuan today (14th) titled “Eliminate Illegal and Black-Hearted Dentures! Buy Taobao Goods!”. The press conference pointed out that 50% of dentures in Taiwan may come from illegal sources, and the risk of scratching the mouth, leading to cancer and reproductive damage, called on the public to pay systematic attention to the problem of the rampant illegal dentures. Legislator Lin Yueqin said that the problem of illegal dentures has become a public health concern. The government should strengthen supervision, medical staff should stick to their duties, and the public should also be vigilant to jointly maintain medical safety.
Lin Yueqin said that in recent years, social events in Taiwan where illegal dentures have destroyed the health of the public have been happening, such as the radiation denture incident in 2012, when 4,000 dentures containing radioactive substances flowed into the market. Patients were bound to bear the risk of excessive radiation due to long-term wear, and the case was hastily closed afterwards. Last month, the incident of invisible braces made in mainland China broke out. More than 200 victims formed a self-help group. The number of victims has increased to 400. The victims collectively accused the business of illegally selling finished braces made in China with raw material import certificates to evade supervision; and cooperated with the diagnosis and treatment of dentists in the clinic, suspected of being exempted from inspection and registration in the name of “customized medical devices”, bypassing the Dental Technician Law, and introducing invisible braces made in mainland China.
The National Federation of Dental Technicians Associations pointed out that 50% of dentures in Taiwan may come from illegal sources. They are worried that this situation will affect the health of patients and expose loopholes in the supervision of medical materials in Taiwan. Imported dentures must be inspected and registered by the Food and Drug Administration, but the overseas manufacturers that the Food and Drug Administration inspects and registers for imported dentures are not made by legal dentists and dental technicians, which is easy to falsify and strictly control; in 2010, the Food and Drug Administration made a second violation. That year was the “Customized Medical Equipment Specification”. Customized dentures made by doctors for patients can be customized from any domestic manufacturer without inspection and registration, which is a legal loophole.
The Federation stated that the victims accepted online advertisements and were then introduced to dental clinics for examinations. The clinics sent the tooth model data to mainland China, and then the mainland side made invisible braces and sent them to the clinics. The first time, the dentist professionally helped the patients to wear them. After that, the victims returned to the clinic every few weeks to receive the braces and wear them themselves. This abnormal pattern is clearly visible. The Food and Drug Administration has indeed abolished its own skills by not strengthening supervision. The central government is strict and should immediately rectify it.
Lin Yueqin reminded that illegal dentures are rough in shape and can easily scratch the mouth; and because of the composition of the materials, long-term wearing may cause cancer, reproductive system damage, chronic poisoning and other health problems. She said that protecting the health of the people is the government’s duty. The Food and Drug Administration should immediately solve the problem loopholes and actively promote to the public to take the initiative to ask for “denture product information cards” to grasp the source of dentures. She said that she hopes that the National Federation of Dental Technicians can actively cooperate with the Ministry of Health and Welfare to issue “denture consultation cards” in a large number of medical institutions and provide denture consultation services.
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