Imported Impression Materials, Filling Materials and Baseplates Used in Medicine are Subject to 10% Advance Sales Tax

August 26, 1987 BIR RULING NO. 247-87 163 (2) (h) 000-00 247-87 Gentlemen : This refers to your letter dated August 18, 1986 requesting reconsideration of BIR Ruling No. 045-86 dated April 18, 1986 to the effect that your imported impression materials, filling materials and baseplates are subject to 20% advance sales tax. In said ruling, this Office opined that the imported impression materials including the cavex baseplates are not used for treating disease, healing, or relieving pain but for taking impression of teeth and other mouth structures in the course of fabricating dentures or artificial teeth. Likewise, your imported cavex in pellet, powder, or caps form cannot be considered as medicine because they are only used as filling or covering materials on the tooth cavity previously eaten by decay. However, it is your contention upon which your request is based, that said imported articles are considered medicine; hence subject to the 10% advance sales tax pursuant to Section 163 (2)(h) of the Tax Code, as amended by Executive Order No. 36. cdta In reply, please be informed that, after a further study, this Office finds your request to be meritorious and hereby grants the same. In general, "Medicine" is the science and art dealing with the prevention , care or alleviation of disease (Stribling V. Jolly. Mo. APP., 253 S.W. 28 519, 524); and that the term is not limited to substances supposed to possess curative or remedial properties, but has also the meaning of the healing art, the science of preserving health and treating disease for the purpose of cure (People v. Kabana, 52 N.E. 2d, 320, 321 ILL. App. 158, Id). (See Words and Phrases, Perm. Ed. Vol. 26A, P. 619). On the other hand, "dentistry" is a special department of medical science and a dentist is a dental surgeon. Commonwealth v. Heller, 121 A. 558, 559, 277 Pa; 539; it is a subdivision of surgery (Gasul V. Michigan Mut. liability Co., 184 N.E. 2d 122, 345 ILL. App. 504). Examination of the mouth and the taking of the impression thereof, and the fitting and supplying of artificial dentures constitutes practice of dentistry, within statutory definition, States ex rel. Taylor v. Devore, 58 S.E. 2d 641, 644, 134 W. Va 151. (See Words and Phrases, Permanent Ed., Vol. 12, P. 111). The teeth and other structures in the mouth are vital parts of the body, the impaired function of which will result in the progressive decay or destruction of its masticatory function. Moreover, it cannot be denied that preserving health of a person's body includes treatment of his teeth and other structures of the mouth. Consequently, under the foregoing definitions, such articles used in curing, alleviating, palliating, or preventing diseases of these structures in the mouth are considered as medicine. In view thereof, your imported impression materials, filling materials and baseplates, namely: (1) Super Pink Impression materials, (2) TT 300 Wax and/or Tropical Wax, (3) Cavex Baseplates, (4) Cavex Impression Paste, (5) Sil-21 Impression Paste, and (6) Cavex Pellets, Powder and Caps, come within the purview of medicine, and are, therefore, subject to 10% advance sales tax based on the total value used by the Bureau of Customs in determining tariff and customs duties including customs duties and other charges pursuant to Section 162(c) in relation to Section 163(2)(h) of the Tax Code, as amended. This revokes BIR Ruling Nos. 045-86. Very truly yours, (SGD.) BIENVENIDO A. TAN, JR. Commissioner