Sustainable dentistry

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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.

Contents

Managing sustainability in dentistry, therefore, is the implementation, monitoring, and adjusting of what this sustainability policy entails within a dental organization. [1] [2] [3] Dental practices can uphold sustainable dentistry by reducing their carbon footprint through various methods such as monitoring product procurement. [4]

Integration

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:

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. [5]

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. [2]

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%. [5]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dental amalgam controversy</span> Debate about the effectiveness and safety of dental amalgam

This discussion of the dental amalgam controversy outlines the debate over whether dental amalgam should be used. Supporters claim that it is safe, effective and long-lasting, while critics argue that amalgam is unsafe because it may cause mercury poisoning and other toxicity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental technology</span> Technical and technological processes for protection of the environment

Environmental technology (envirotech) is the use of engineering and technological approaches to understand and address issues that affect the environment with the aim of fostering environmental improvement. It involves the application of science and technology in the process of addressing environmental challenges through environmental conservation and the mitigation of human impact to the environment.

Green computing, green IT, or ICT sustainability, is the study and practice of environmentally sustainable computing or IT.

A sustainable business, or a green business, is an enterprise that has a minimal negative impact or potentially a positive effect on the global or local environment, community, society, or economy—a business that attempts to meet the triple bottom line. They cluster under different groupings and the whole is sometimes referred to as "green capitalism". Often, sustainable businesses have progressive environmental and human rights policies. In general, a business is described as green if it matches the following four criteria:

  1. It incorporates principles of sustainability into each of its business decisions.
  2. It supplies environmentally friendly products or services that replace demand for nongreen products and/or services.
  3. It is greener than traditional competition.
  4. It has made an enduring commitment to environmental principles in its business operations.
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reuse</span> Using again

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amalgam (dentistry)</span> Material used in dentistry for direct restorative procedures in the tooth

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amalgam (chemistry)</span> Alloy of mercury with another metal

An amalgam is an alloy of mercury with another metal. It may be a liquid, a soft paste or a solid, depending upon the proportion of mercury. These alloys are formed through metallic bonding, with the electrostatic attractive force of the conduction electrons working to bind all the positively charged metal ions together into a crystal lattice structure. Almost all metals can form amalgams with mercury, the notable exceptions being iron, platinum, tungsten, and tantalum. Silver-mercury amalgams are important in dentistry, and gold-mercury amalgam is used in the extraction of gold from ore. Dentistry has used alloys of mercury with metals such as silver, copper, indium, tin and zinc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micro-sustainability</span> Individual or small scale sustainability efforts

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Holistic dentistry, also called biological dentistry, biologic dentistry, alternative dentistry, unconventional dentistry, or biocompatible dentistry, is the equivalent of complementary and alternative medicine for dentistry. Although the holistic dental community is diverse in its practices and approaches, common threads include strong opposition to the use of amalgam in dental fillings, nonsurgical approaches to gum disease, and the belief that root canal treatments may endanger systemic health of the patient through the spread of trapped dental bacteria to the body. Many dentists who use these terms also regard water fluoridation unfavorably.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green urbanism</span> Practice of creating communities beneficial to humans and the environment

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable Development Goal 12</span> 12th of 17 Sustainable Development Goals to ensure responsible consumption and production

Sustainable Development Goal 12, titled "responsible consumption and production", is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015. The official wording of SDG 12 is "Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns". SDG 12 is meant to ensure good use of resources, improve energy efficiency and sustainable infrastructure, provide access to basic services, create green and decent jobs, and ensure a better quality of life for all. SDG 12 has 11 targets to be achieved by at least 2030, and progress towards the targets is measured using 13 indicators.

References

  1. Oviedo, Beverly (Summer 2018). "Sustainable Dentistry – A New Dental Ethic" (PDF). Journal of the American College of Dentists. 85 (3): 5–7.
  2. 1 2 Willard, B. (Summer 2018). "The Business Case for Sustainable Dentistry" (PDF). Journal of the American College of Dentists. 85 (3): 8–14.
  3. United Nations. Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the 80th General Assembly, September 25, 2015.
  4. Lee, J. (2022). My View: Sustainable dentistry.
  5. 1 2 Martin, Nicolas; Sheppard, Madison; Gorasia, GaneshParth; Arora, Pranav; Cooper, Matthew; Mulligan, Steven (September 2021). "Awareness and barriers to sustainability in dentistry: A scoping review". Journal of Dentistry. 112: 103735. doi:10.1016/j.jdent.2021.103735. ISSN   0300-5712.