Advice on Teeth Whitening Discussion Thread

moneylover

ToothFairy306 wrote: »

Tooth whitening products can ONLY be legally purchased from a dentist in the UK (the law was modified as of the 31st October 2012). There is a reason websites such as Polanight.co.uk are selling whitening products at bargin prices compared to dental practitioners - they are fake!

Article published in British Dental Journal:

Product News
British Dental Journal 212, 98 (2012)
Published online: 27 January 2012 | doi:10.1038/sj.bdj.2012.84

BEWARE UNSCRUPULOUS WEBSITES

Southern Dental Industries (SDI) are advising all customers to only buy SDI products through their usual dental dealer and not to be taken in by companies offering bargain basement prices. The following companies only are authorised by SDI: BDSI, Henry Schein Minerva, Budget, Kent Express, Claudius Ash, BF Mulholland, Click Dental, Oraldent, Dental Health Boutique, Precision Dental, Dental Sky, Skillbond, Dental Supply House, Survival, Dentaquip, The Dental Directory, Trycare Dental Linkline, Wright Cottrell.

There are unscrupulous websites out there who are allegedly selling products branded as Pola. SDI cannot guarantee the authenticity of products sold through unregulated dealers. They may have similar packaging, carry the SDI logo and look the same, but unless you buy your Pola products through your regular dental dealer you may be putting your patients at risk.

SDI's Pola Advanced Tooth Whitening System is only sold to registered dental professionals via authorised dental dealers.

Is it known for sure that Polynight.co.uk are selling fake products or are they just an example of a company possibly selling fake dental products? The BDJ article doesnt name any companies for obvious reasons. I emailed Polynight.co.uk the piece from the BDJ (not the whole posting of course) and they replied that they are selling 100% official products and offered a free sample of Polynight 16%. They are very open with address, phone no etc. Has there been anything in the dental press specifically about Polynight and/or impending prosecution? On reflection, I have decided to buy from my dental surgery as I know that they accept a level of responsibility for the fact that I am buying follow up treatment from them. I have therefore no intention of taking up Polynight's offer of a free sample but I do remain curious as to whether they are providing a genuine product cheaper.
Has anyone on this board used Polynight.co.uk , I wonder?

Toothsmith

How can the be '100% official' when the company themselves have warned the profession in the profession's most prestigious journal that they do not supply these people?

Have you tried ringing the phone number or writing to the address? Web based communication can be picked up from anywhere (and phones can be diverted I suppose). I would be very surprised if the address actually had an office there, otherwise it would have been shut down by now.

brook2jack

here is a recent case of a website claiming to sell legal products. The owner of the website was sent to jail. http://www.essex.gov.uk/News/Pages/Teeth-Whitening-Salesman-Jailed-.aspx

You cannot trust people selling an illegal product on the web. All the products with more than 0.1% hydrogen peroxide are illegal to buy direct, that includes crest white strips ,syringes of whitening gels, whitening kits etc

brook2jack

polanight.co.UK would appear to have a rather in glorious track record read http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.happysmileuk.com

Their information would appear to be correct
Polanight.co.uk
w3patrol.com/d/polanight.co.uk
Domain name: polanight.co.uk Registrant: michael greenwood Registrant type: UK Sole Trader Registrant\'s address: flat 210 91 mayflower street

plymouth devon PL1 1SB ...



ileuk.com
11/02/2006 · ... 1.08701123354 Fax: +1.5555555555 flat 210 91 mayflower street, plymouth, devon pl1 1sb GB Technical Contact: happysmileuk.com mike greenwood ()


Draw your own conclusions

moneylover

It would seem from the posting from SDI about polanight.co.uk on the website linked to in previous post that they are offering an initially genuine product that may subsequently not have been stored correctly or may be out of date:

"Happy Smile UK and Polanight.co.uk are businesses claiming to be distributors of SDI Pola whitening products .
I am the founder and managing director of SDI Ltd which is the manufacturer of all Pola products- please refe to https://www.sdi.com.au
Happy Smiles/Polanight.co obtain our products via dubious means. Pola products are... manufactured in very strictly controlled enviroments, low temperatures and are transported to our legal distributors in temperature controlled conditions- hydrogen peroxide ( carbamide peroxide) is susceptable to warm temperature. Therefore I fear that what Happy Smiles/Polanight.co are offering an unsuspecting public is inferior, poorly controlled, out of date and ineffective product. This will result in a poor whitening effect at least and serious oral damage at the worst.
DO NOT purchase Pola products from Happy Smiles/Polanight.co- it may be cheaper but it WILL be be faulty and maybe dangerous. The only way to purchase these materials is to visit your dentist who will prescribe the correct product and will guarantee that it works-
And a message for Happy Smiles/Polanight.co. Cease and Desist this illegal trade or face the full legal consequenses from SDI and the UK Authorities who monitor such business- continue and our legal team is coming to get you!"END

What I cannot understand is why SDI, since they claim to know what is going on, cannot tighten up on their distribution procedures so the products cannot so easily get to resellers. Obviously its good that all this gets aired and we stay away from these resellers but surely SDI should take some of the blame if these products are being sold on by their distributors and without the proper safeguards of being in date and kept at controlled temperatures.

brook2jack

If you read between the lines and note where these dodgy companies are based the products are bought abroad where the law is not enforced. It is illegal for anyone to supply these products direct to the public properly stored or not in the UK and EU.

The problem is there are so many of these people trading standards are struggling to prosecute them all. SDI are then left in the position of sueing folks like this who by breaking the law blatantly are dragging a reputable law abiding company through the mud.

The public have a role to play by reporting companies such as this to trading standards (phone number normally on local council website) and passing on the word to anyone taken in by their websites.

The other problem is people try to circumvent the law by basing companies outside the UK and EU (see previous posts).

moneylover

I guess it would have to be appropriate london borough trading standards for this reseller who is probably just one of several people just acting as an agent for an unknown company and possibly, as you say, not in UK ...so not easy...interesting as it would seem some dentists may have been buying from this source and hence the statement in the BDJ
anyway, hopefully all of us on this forum are now a lot more wary.

brook2jack

There is no unknown company. In common with many illegal sellers of whitening products this person would appear to run multiple websites selling the same illegal products , the websites would appear to be based in Bulgaria.

The owner of the website and others similar does not have a London address see posting above.

The majority of illegal whitening Internet businesses would appear to be one man operations. Judging from the complaints on the link above telephone calls to the two "different" businesses ended up speaking to the samean.

If you are making a complaint about a company you complain to your local trading standards office.

moneylover

action from the BDA maybe? Since dentists are so aware of the probs and where these outfits are

Toothsmith

It's the General Dental Council (GDC) rather than the BDA that look into this. But they are handicapped by what the courts decide is a priority.

It is treated with a lot more weight if it's a member of the public making the complaint than if its a dentist.

That's why Brook and I are always banging on about this part of the GDC site on reporting illegal practice.

http://www.gdc-uk.org/Membersofpublic/Illegalpractice/Pages/Report-An-Illegal-Practice.aspx

So, if anyone is aware of beauticians doing tooth whitening (Facebook is full of them, although they are beginning to act as well) or illegal suppliers of products, the GDC would really like to hear from you.

The public can really play their part here.