Dentsply International Inc. recently announced that it has entered a settlement agreement with the government in connection with a False Claims Act claim filed by a former employee of Dentsply's Caulk division. The government spent 2 1/2 years investigating every aspect of the product, including design, development, manufacturing, sales and complaint handling. The company was cited for one issue, which was Caulk's failure to file MDRs regarding certain complaints in a timely manner. To date, everything Dentsply believes was previously overlooked has been filed and numerous steps have been taken to prevent any such oversights from occurring in the future. The product in question, which was sold in relatively low volumes by Caulk to the government in the mid 90s, has subsequently been discontinued as new generation products were introduced. Under the agreement, Dentsply has agreed to pay $600,000. The company fully cooperated with the government in its investigation of the claim and believes this settlement is a reasonable way to resolve these issues without the consumption of time and expenses in litigation. While Dentsply has determined that reaching this resolution is in the company's best interest, it continues to disclaim any liability and denies the allegations and contentions set forth in the claim.

For more information, call (717) 849-4718.