Can aesthetic dentistry be more environmentally friendly?

Manrina Rhode explores some barriers to sustainability in aesthetic dentistry and how practices can become more environmentally friendly.

Today I want to talk to you about sustainability in aesthetic dentistry. I don’t know that I can necessarily carve out aesthetic dentistry from dentistry as whole in terms of sustainability. But it’s definitely an important topic to bring into our lives as practice owners and as dentists to look after our world.

Clear aligner waste

Maybe the first thing that comes to mind with sustainability and aesthetics is clear aligners or Invisalign-type trays. A lot of clinics will have bins that you can get from various companies for patients to throw away their used aligners. The company will then pick that bin up and reuse the plastic or make sure that it’s removed in an environmentally friendly way.

So that’s something to think about as a practice owner to help with waste from from clear aligners. Or as an associate, it’s something you could speak to your practice owner about.

Single-use plastic

Another consideration is the plastic cups that we use in practice. Using using paper cups in practices would be more environmentally friendly. This is something we need to address since we get through so many cups in a day.

Making sustainable changes is difficult in dentistry because sterilisation protocols and other aspects of compliance result in a lot of single-use plastic. We do need to use this plastic as it means we’re giving our patients the very best, safest treatments. However we just need to be mindful about the amount that we’re using and look at better ways to dispose of them. I don’t know if these sustainable disposal methods necessarily exist in dentistry at the moment, but they definitely need to be explored further.

Reducing consumption

Here at DRMR, we try to be paper free as much as possible. We use an online portal for our clients to fill out their medical history and sign their consent forms. Any correspondence with patients is now digital. We used to print out before and after photos but we email them over now. We also used to use complimentary consultation cards and printed leaflets for the treatments that we offer. Having stopped that, we’re now completely paper free.

Other ways that we do our bit to try and help the environment include being careful with with the air conditioning, heating and lighting that we’re using. We have movement sensor lights in a lot of our rooms, so the lights come on and off as needed rather than then wasting energy resources.

We also chose an environmentally-friendly resin when I built my squat practice. There is a choice between regular resin or something more environmentally friendly. I think it’s important to make those choices every day to look after the the world that we live in.

There are companies out there which can be hired to evaluate your practice and help you to be more sustainable. There is always some some benefit in having a consultation with them, or getting them in for the day. This ensures all of us doing are our part and seeing what we can do on a day-to-day basis to help with with sustainability.

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Visit Manrina’s website here: www.drmrlondon.co.uk.