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Sustainable oral healthcare and the environment: mitigation strategies Nicolas Martin Lucy Smith Steven Mulligan Dental Update 2024 48:7, 707-709.
Authors
NicolasMartin
BDS, PhD, PgCertEd, MFDSRCS, FDSRCS
Professor and Consultant in Restorative Dentistry, Academic Unit of Restorative Dentistry, School of Clinical Dentistry, Claremont Crescent, The University of Sheffield, S10 2TA, UK
Carbon emissions and single-use plastics (SUPs) are the main forms of environmental pollution relating to waste arising from oral healthcare. Ownership of this problem is shared with the whole supply chain, from manufacturing to distribution, procurement, clinical use and finally, waste management. Mitigation strategies focus on the individual stakeholders in the supply chain, including the provision of clinical care. Key to this is establishing a baseline analysis of the nature and the size of the problem through life cycle assessments (LCAs). Reduction of CO2 emissions, other associated environmental impacts and plastic waste is considered through remote clinical consultations, recycling, patient education and the provision of high-quality care to achieve high impact environmentally sustainable outcomes.
CPD/Clinical Relevance: Environmentally sustainable oral healthcare requires the combined efforts of all stakeholders across the supply chain. The provision of good oral healthcare can deliver environmentally sustainable outcomes from a reduced need for interventions.
Article
Oral healthcare, in the form of prevention, therapeutic interventions and long-term maintenance, has an effect on the environment in the form of pollution, an increased carbon footprint, and an increase in other environmental impacts. In both domestic and clinical settings, much of the waste will end up as landfill or incineration, with some energy recovery in limited instances.1,2 Part one of this two-part series explored the sources of pollution arising from our professional activities in the provision of oral healthcare and how these activities appear to conflict with environmentally sustainable practice. Environmental impacts, plastic usage in the form of single-use plastics (SUPs, including packaging) and the use of dental materials and sundries are the largest contributors to pollution. Broader concepts were identified that influence these issues, such as the impact of supply chains, environmental citizenship and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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