New campaign to warn dentists of rising risk of fake equipment

Dentists in Britain are to be warned of the dangers posed by the growing quantity of counterfeit dental equipment that is flooding the UK market.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will be allying with industry organisations such as the British Dental Industry Association (BDIA) to run a new awareness campaign targeting the issue in February 2015, reports the Guardian.

Professionals will be urged to take more rigorous steps to ascertain that drills, X-ray machines and other equipment they buy for their surgeries all comes from trusted suppliers, following the MHRA's seizure of more than 12,000 fake dental products last year.

Most of the counterfeits come from China and Pakistan and are sold for greatly reduced prices through online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay and Alibaba.

Alastair Jeffrey, head of enforcement at the MHRA, said: "We are seeing an increase in counterfeit dental equipment. Devices are going to be a growth area for us."

Both the MHRA and BDIA previously made efforts to raise awareness of this issue last year. The February campaign will also involve the cooperation of sellers like Amazon and eBay.