Today, Online shopping not only has conquered the general consumer market, but it is taking over the professional equipment sales. Online shoppers can view, compare (features and pricing), select, order, pay, and receive products without leaving the comfort of their house and offices. However, online customers are prone to mistakes. The Internet itself is full of jokes and memes about online shopping gone wrong. 

But your practice tools and materials are no joke. When shopping for dentistry products, making a wrong choice can affect your patient’s health and the future of your career. That’s why it is critical to know how to ensure the quality of dentistry products you buy online. Here, we have gathered a list of the most effective pieces of advice on this topic.

  • Check if delivery is available at your office location? What is the price?
  • Customer services before and after purchase. To answer questions and solve problems.

Often, the product is not as good as it is advertised

Unscrupulous sellers exist in every market, and the dental products market is no exception. Shopping without ensuring the quality of the product and the legitimacy of the seller can lead to paying loads of money for low-quality or fake products. The fraudulent sailors attract you with exaggerated descriptions, low prices, and promises their products never can uphold. 

Using botched tools and materials may leave serious impacts on your patient’s health and confidence. Unfortunately, the dental products market is full of low-quality, untested, and unregulated items. In this situation, it is of utmost importance to remember this as a common rule:  If something looks too good to be true it probably isn’t true.

The second way to protect yourself from counterfeits is to make sure you are buying from a reputable supplier.

Buy from a reliable manufacturer (This can’t be emphasized enough)

When you’ve found an interesting product, It’s time to research the manufacturer. This is especially important when you’re buying from a manufacturer or brand for the first time. 

Check if the product has all the required licenses, and the company has legal permissions to sell it. 

If you don’t want to wait too long for your delivery, check the company’s inventory by simply checking up the number of different items they are offering. If the company sells a few items, they may need to wait for their shipments, and deliver your products later than expected.

Check the seller’s reputation

Avoid going to a website and buying items without making sure who you are buying from. Don’t be tempted by equipment sold on websites– not only can you be buying a fake or low-quality product, but it will come without warranty or support.

Choose a seller that has a pedigree in selling dental equipment and one that can assist you through the process, from making the decision to installation and service.

Seek customer feedbacks

Check for customer feedback. Many online shops, e.g. Amazon, have sections for customers to leave their ratings and reviews. Reading these comments will show you many things you can’t find in the device specs page. If you know colleagues that are also customers of that brand, make sure to consult them. Dentists are the best source you can seek for reviews and recommendations. Nothing will help you choose better tools more than experience-based professional commentary.

Maintenance price is part of the device price

Many people buy quality tools, just to lose them to expensive or even unavailable maintenance. You never want botched equipment to ruin your practice. So it’s worthwhile to research the available customer services before and after sale. Count regular maintenance expenses as part of your device’s price. You also need to check if spare parts for your device are available on request, and at short notice too. It may cost you a lot to wait two weeks to get one of your critical tools working again.

Read about the product’s warranty carefully

Make sure the device has warranty and customer support. Check if you can receive customer services and consult both before and after shopping. This seems less important at the point of purchase, but invaluable if something goes wrong. 

Read the warranty letter. It is important to know the device’s warranty covers all reasonable cases of failure and malfunction. Check if you can extend the guarantee after its expiration date.

As digital technologies are merged into dentistry tools, make sure the more sophisticated and expensive hardware/software parts of your device are covered by the warranty.