From 24/7 Wall St. affiliate Heathcare Outsider

The New York Times reports that last month, GlaxoSmithKline (the pharmaceutical company that can do nothing right) recalled a popular dental adhesive called Super Poligrip from the market because it contained high levels of Zinc, and some people who used the cream had shown some adverse symptoms associated with the effects of Zinc poisoning (they were dying.) Zinc – you probably know it as the last ingredient listed on your unopened bottle of Centrum. You may also be familiar with its usage as an anti-corrosive, a component used to galvanize steel, and an adhesive agent in denture creams. What you probably didn’t know is that studies like this one (from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition) have identified the metal as a toxic agent, and that long-term exposure to it can lead to nerve damage, anemia, and death.

While most of the things that go wrong with GSK are accidents caused by whatever ancient curse was placed upon them, this might not be the case with not-so-Super Poligrip. Apparently, warnings about the potential side effects of Zinc have been available for quite some time (decades). Even more troubling, at least one of these, featured in the journal Neurology, directly cited dental cream as a potential vehicle for poisoning. GSK’s response to this was to insert a tiny pamphlet in Super Poligrip boxes suggesting people apply the cream sparingly. Considering the target audience for dental adhesives (people old enough to need dentures) this seems to be not unlike doing absolutely nothing.

Organizations like the American Dental Association are skeptical about all the to-do surrounding adhesives and Zinc poisoning. They suggest the victims were simply using far too much of the product, and were accidentally swallowing small quantities. At risk of sounding a little paternalistic, it doesn’t seem entirely fair to blame the elderly folks who haven’t done all their reading on the potential side effects of Zinc overexposure. It seems more likely that a company should consider its target audience when marketing a product that can potentially put you in a wheelchair or kill you if you don’t read the fine print.

Regardless, all’s well that ends well. we’re sure GSK will never market something again without exploring all possible side effects, and people with dentures can always use Procter & Gamble’s (PG) Fixodent, which only has half as much Zinc as Super Poligrip did. We’re sure that’s much safer.

Michael B. Sauter

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