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Don't Let Gray Market Dental Products Threaten Your Reputation

Don't Let Gray Market Dental Products Threaten Your Reputation
by Julie Cullen

Gray market products can be a liability to you and your practice, but how do you make sure all of the products you use are legitimate?

Let’s start with a definition of “gray market products.” They fall into one of these categories:

1. Products diverted from an unauthorized channel. That means they don’t comply with local laws and their quality may be compromised because of inappropriate handling or storage.

2. Repackaged or re-labeled products. When a product is coming to the end of its shelf life, gray market dealers will change or remove the expiration date and repackage the product.

3. Counterfeit products. Simply put, these are fake products. They may look like the real thing, but they’re not. This category of gray market product is less common than the other two, but probably poses the most risk to your patients.

What Can You Do?

How do you make sure you’re not receiving gray market products? First, don’t be seduced by a great deal. Yes, you’re a business owner in addition to being a clinician, and you have to pay attention to the bottom line, but when a product is being sold for well below the wholesale cost set by authorized distributors, that probably means the product falls into one of the gray market categories defined above. If you suspect a product may not be the real thing—maybe the labeling doesn’t seem exactly right, the expiration date appears to be tampered with, or the price is too good to be true—contact the manufacturer and its authorized distributors.

Read full article on Dental Product Shopper.