Counterfeit and non-compliant products continue to be a concern for DiAC and its members. Our ongoing education and information campaign with our members, dental associations and other stakeholders ensures the quality of dental products, the support of the dental manufacturers and thus the safety of Canadian dental patients.

Over the last years of COVID we have seen an increase of on-line purchasing and the increase of counterfeit and non-compliant products entering the Canadian market. Products that are not approved for sale in Canada, especially Class 1 products are making their way into our marketplace as importers/sellers are only required to hold MDEL's to import. Class II-IV products do require product licencing from Health Canada including N95 respirators which have been the most counterfeited product in the market this last couple of years.

Dr. Richard B. Price and his colleagues have highlighted the risk of purchasing dental products on line and provides some guidance in an article published this month in the Journal of the American Dental Association entitled Caveat emptor when purchasing dental products online. I encourage you to review this article and share it with your customers and stakeholders to articulate the risk to patient safety of buying non-compliant and counterfeit products.  

The DiAC website has a checklist for dental offices when receiving products to help them identify those legally available for sale in Canada and supported by the manufacturer. DiAC members are also encouraged to share this list with your clients/customers.