User:Polarnatbear/Sustainable dentistry

Article Draft

Lead

I did not get rid of any information I only added information to the article. I have added boundaries that sustainable dentistry faces, and talked about how little effort has been made. I talked more about what we can do to help with sustainable dentistry, and legislations that have been made

Example projects [edit]

• For example, the signing of the Paris Agreement of 2016, national legislation such as the U.K.’s Climate Change Act of 2008 and global climate change activism. Accordingly, there is a call for Dentistry as a profession, to integrate sustainable development goals into daily practice and support a shift to a green economy in the pursuit of healthy lives and well-being for all through all stages of life
• the profession such as enormous electricity demands of electronic dental equipment, voluminous water requirements, environmental effects of biomaterials (before, during and after clinical use), the use of radiation and the generation of hazardous waste involving mercury, lead etc have contributed towards this
• Dentistry lacks such information, evidence or even studies on sustainable practices7 which is why efforts on greening practices have been scant and mostly been founded on compiled lists of general suggestions (intro 2)
• Waste is big issue in dentistry. Each year dentists in the United States are responsible for generating: • 3.7 tons of mercury waste • 1.7 billion sterilization pouches • 680 million chair barriers, light-handle covers, and patient bibs • 28 million liters of toxic X-ray fixer • 4.8 million lead foils (pg 13)
• Here are some healthcare-sector practices to help reduce this environmental burden: • Use the Blue Bin recycling program to recycle separately the paper and plastic halves of one autoclave bag. • Install an amalgam separator to separate the fine particles of silver amalgam (generated during restoration finishing, polishing and removal procedures) from waste water and prevent mercury filling material from entering the water supply. Silver amalgam contains mercury, silver, and other metals that can enter the environment. Currently it has been estimated that dentists contribute between 3 to 70% of the total mercury load entering waste-water treatment facilities (Avinash, 2013). • Recycle autoclave bags in blue bins. • Replace single-use paper or plastic bibs with operating room (OR) cotton towels. This avoids 5,100 pieces of plastic (back of bibs) sent to landfills each year. After use, the towels are washed in an energy and water efficient washing machine and then sterilized in the autoclave with cassettes of instruments, above. • Use reusable stainless steel high and low volume, surgical/endodontic suction tips vs single-use disposable plastic. • Use reusable glass irrigation syringe vs single-use disposable plastic syringes. • Use biodegradable disposable cups vs landfill-burdening cups. • If using traditional X-rays, recycle fixer and developer solutions and recycle lead foil from X-rays. • Use digital radiography instead of traditional film-based X-rays, to avoid the risk of silver and lead pollution and exposing patients to 70 to 90% more radiation from traditional X-rays . • Use stainless steel prophy cups instead of disposable prophycontaining cups. Purchase prophy paste in tubes or tubs and use only the amount of paste that is needed versus a predetermined amount which is often too much and wasteful/costly. • Use disposable, plastic/paper barriers only as truly needed. • Use an environmentally-friendly landscape company that uses natural growth products and no harmful pesticides. (pg 13)
• The FDI has decisively contributed to the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) legally-binding treaty on mercury—the Minamata Convention—advocating for a reduction in the use of dental amalgam (versus a ban) through increased attention to dental prevention and health promotion, increased research and development on alternatives, and best management techniques for amalgam waste. (pg 18)
• In the healthcare system, energy usage contributes to 15% of the carbon footprint, with a significant component attributed to buildings. This can be reduced by increasing energy efficiency, reducing unnecessary usage and using low carbon energy. 'Green buildings' incorporate design features which enhance energy and resource efficiency by 40–45%, and consequently reduce energy demand, energy bills and emissions, compared to traditional buildings. Without green features, buildings contribute to 24% of the total healthcare system carbon footprint by consuming more than £410 million worth of energy. The UK Climates Impact Programme has published information for construction of new healthcare buildings. The UK government has set a target for new public sector buildings to be zero carbon from 2018 onwards, and the NHS healthcare buildings aimed to be low carbon by 2015.

Sustainable Dentistry

Sustainable dentistry is when a dental organization voluntarily embeds corporate social responsibility into its organizational culture through the creation of a sustainability policy that outlines its commitment to and strategy for internally and externally focusing all its activities on realizing a triple bottom line, i.e. economic prosperity, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship. Managing sustainability in dentistry, therefore, is the implementation, monitoring, and adjusting of what this sustainability policy entails within a dental organization.

Dental practices can uphold sustainable dentistry by reducing their carbon footprint through various methods such as monitoring product procurement. To reduce the environmental burden created by dentistry there are a few practices we can do:

• blue bin recycling
• amalgam separator to separate silver amalgam from waste water and prevent mercury from entering the water supply
  • dentists contribute 3 to 70% total mercury load entering waste water treatment
  • recycle autoclave bags
  • replace single use paper with cotton towels
  • reusable glass irrigation syringe instead of disposable ones
  • digital radiography instead of traditional to lower silver and lead pollution

Many legislations are calling dentistry to integrate SDGS into daily practices to support a green economy. The FDI has played a significant role in pushing for a legally-binding treaty, Minamata Convention, on mercury by the UNEP.

Instead of advocating for an outright ban, FDI has pushed for measures within the treaty focused on reducing the use of dental amalgam. This means prioritizing dental prevention, investing in research and development of alternative materials, and implementing the best practices for managing amalgam waste. While, the UK government has set a goal for all new public sector buildings to be carbon-neutral from 2018 onward, and the NHS aimed for low-carbon healthcare buildings by 2015.

Barriers

Sustainable dentistry also faces a lot of barriers as biomedical waste has only been increasing in dentistry. Dentistry is commonly known as a profession with large electricity demands, water requirements, and harsh environmental effects. This is important because the biggest issue in sustainable dentistry is the amount of waste that is constantly being used. For example, In the United States dentists generate 3.7 tons of mercury waste and 4.8 million lead foils. The reason none of this has been combated is because sustainable dentistry efforts are low due to scant studies. Implementing measures like enhancing energy efficient, cutting down unnecessary use, adopting low-carbon energy sources can mitigate this impact. One example would be, Green buildings, they integrate design elements that improve energy and resource efficiency by 40-45%.