FREE WHITEWATER

F.L.O.S.S: Protecting You from Low-Cost Teeth-Whitening Services

It’s not health, but favoring some businesses over others (and over consumers) that’s the concern of Connecticut’s regulators:

Here’s the description of the Institute for Justice’s video:

Teeth-whitening services are popular and increasingly available at spas, salons and shopping malls. This has been a boon for consumers because these businesses offer whitening services at a much lower cost than dentists do, often charging less than 25 percent of what a dentist would charge for similar results.

There is one group that is not smiling about these new, low-cost teeth-whitening services: the Connecticut Dental Commission. In June, the Commission ruled it is a crime punishable by up to five years in jail or $25,000 in civil penalties for anyone but a licensed dentist to offer teeth-whitening services, even if the customers apply the product to their own teeth.

Teeth-whitening products are regulated by the FDA as cosmetics, which mean anyone—even a child—can purchase them and apply them to his or her own teeth without a prescription and without supervision or instruction.

The Dental Commission’s ruling has nothing to do with public health or safety and everything to do with protecting licensed dentists from honest competition.

Comments are closed.