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Practices protect the environmentDear Dr Reitz: The celebration of Earth Day took place Thursday. How has the dental industry responded to protecting the environment? - Dave Dear Dave: The idea of going green has caught on with the profession of dentistry. Dentists realize that pollution is a health issue, and many have voluntarily incorporated changes that have reduced their practices' environmental impact. The arrival of AIDS to America forced medical and dental practices to change their disinfection procedures. Wearing gloves and covering everything in plastic that came in contact with patients became the recommended protocol. Today one of dentistry's biggest areas of waste is in the disposable of infection-control paper and plastic products. Most of the changes were warranted and overdue; however in some cases we may have gone too far in our quest to eliminate patient cross contamination, such as the procedure of wrapping the dental equipment in plastic. Today there are many effective surface disinfectants that eliminate the plastic coverings, and reusable cloth methods that can replace some of the paper products, such as bibs and sterilization packets. Traditional dental X-rays required lead foil and the chemicals developer and fixer that end up in landfills and in waste water. Switching to digital X-rays eliminates the use of any chemicals. For offices still using traditional X-rays, there are products that transform used liquid developer and fixer solutions into a solid for safer disposal. The solid waste is then picked up by collection companies for proper disposal. The only way to remove old amalgam fillings is to use the dental drill, leaving pieces removed from the mouth with a suction. Although the larger amalgam pieces are collected in a trap, some end up going down the drain. For this reason, many dental offices have installed amalgam separators in their waste water line to capture even trace amounts of waste amalgam. Unfortunately, changing to digital X-rays and adding amalgam separators are big expenses for dental offices with limited profit margins. So change often takes time to incorporate. On a smaller scale, switching from incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescents, using pump spray instead of aerosol, turning off all equipment at the end of the day and having a thermostat automatically adjust the temperature when the office is vacant are easy ways to reduce energy use. The column is written by John Reitz, DDS, and does not represent the opinion of the Pennsylvania State Dental Board. Dr Reitz answers questions from readers. E-mail them via his Web site at reitzdds.com or mail to John Reitz, DDS, 30 Commerce Drive, Wyomissing PA 19610 John
V. Reitz, D.D.S., F.A.G.D. Copyright
2010. All rights reserved. |
