The constant battle between the gray market industry and legitimate distributors has long been there even before the advent of the internet. However, the gray market products continually lure dentist on selling them dental equipment that continually affects manufacturers. When we say gray market, they are products specifically posted outside the United States, but do unauthorized sales domestically at really lower rates. Although there is no specific numbers on the number of casualties of the gray market sellers, it is still an issue that will need to be solved for the sake of the dental community.

Unlike before, the gray market industry sells their product by hiding it from other legitimate manufacturers and distributors. Today however, you can easily see gray market products at high traffic sites along with legitimate manufacturer sites. They show their gray goods at very low prices right beside the legitimate ones. The situation isn't getting better since the gray market distributors are highly available today.

And this problem also affects small distributors as they are tempted to get gray products especially if their client is looking for a product that they do not have thus they might lose their client to a bigger manufacturer. To avoid losing a client, they will turn to a gray dealer to help themselves stay in business. In total, the gray market is not safe for all concern in the dental industry. Manufacturers, dealers and dentists are all in the losing end since they are all jeopardizing the quality of not having high quality dental equipment.

The stake of purchasing from gray market sellers will definitely not be to the advantage of the dealer and the dentist who buys the product since purchasing from unauthorized dealers lets a dentist to receive goods in as-is condition. Dentists may not be able to return the dental products they purchase and is not liable for a recall if the manufacturers ask for them. The problem though is that some dentists do not even know that they have already purchased their dental products from the gray market.

One solution that can be done is to stay away from the gray market industry by making sure that your distributor is selling legitimate dental equipment and do not participate in such market. This will still be a hard work that will need all the help it can get from all the parties involve. Dentists should be meticulous from purchasing their dental equipment and ask distributors where they got their products, while distributors should stay away from purchasing their products on the gray market.

Keep in mind that it is not only the issue of purchasing dental equipment online. Even if the product is about understanding dental caries and preventive dental equipment to solve them, it is still about safety issues. Distributors need to communicate and educate their clients about this problem since this is a concern that needs to be looked upon.