Apparently reacting to a former policy of Align Technology, New York legislators have introduced a bill that would ban dental product manufacturers from requiring dentists to use the product in a minimum number of patients each year.
On April 22, Align canceled a policy requiring all dentists who want to be active Invisalign providers to start at least 10 Invisalign cases annually.
In justifying the bill, Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) argued that "one orthodontic company requires that a dentist must use its orthodontic treatment modality on at least 10 patients per year."
The practice harms patients, he wrote. "Unless a dentist is willing to commence unnecessary treatments just to meet a quota, the dentist may lose access to the treatment modality for patients who would best benefit from it. Alternatively, the dentist may be forced to use treatments that are not the best treatment option for certain patients, because of being unable to access the best option due to failure to meet a quota," the bill states.
The bill is in the Health Committees of both the Assembly and the Senate. Its Senate sponsor is Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn).
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