Every industry leaves its carbon footprint behind. This includes manufacturing, deconstruction, communication and provision of resources, and dentistry is no different from that.
The environmental crisis is one of the emergings, or instead surfaced, but still no visible threat to our world. According to research published in the British dental journal, dentistry has a significant impact. It single-handedly contributes almost 675 kilotons of CO2 every year.
Eco-friendly dentistry
With technology constantly evolving, dental professionals are adopting newer methods of renewability and eco-friendly measures. The intention behind this is to reduce toxic substances' rate to the environment. This can apply to dentistry, where conventional use of materials relies heavily on plastic storage and materials. It also consists of manufacturing processes involving more pollution and the disposal hazards it can present. Hence, to prevent this, materials, especially those that are disposable after short periods, dentists can replace them with more eco-friendly variants. One such example includes wooden ones replace plastic toothbrushes and picks. Even unique innovations consist of the ParlaTM toothpaste tablets initiative by Dr Simon Chard.
Patient-practitioner dynamics
This, of course, requires more co-operation on the part of the patient where they should opt to consume environment-friendly variants for their oral care. This requires a strong relationship with their dental health care provider, who can raise awareness regarding bio-degradability virtue of specific materials. This can take effect affect in form of using wooden toothbrushes, or even electric ones that are sustainable for a long time, opting for restorative materials whose deposits are more environment friendly compared to the controversy surrounding amalgam. The patient is more important here because, as consumers, they control the direction of markets.
Take home message
More important is the dental practice leading by producing an eco-friendly environment where dentists can more favourable use renewable items than disposable ones. Thus, ensuring a clean and green environment.
Dr Yasir Israr
The author is contributing writer at Dental News and can be reached at yasirisrar533@gmail.com. Follow Yasir on Instagram: @dr_yasirisrar
