Eco-Friendly Dentists

Dentists and other medical professionals are no exception to the greening process. Eco-friendly dentistry is a recent development, but one that is likely to experience growth in the future. As with any industry, dentistry creates a certain amount of waste materials, and it is through technological innovation that new techniques for reducing and recycling these materials are being put into practice.

Sustainability is a concept that has combined traditional environmentalist concerns such as reducing waste with the science of ecology. Increasing awareness about ecology and the interconnected nature of ecosystems has helped propel the concept of sustainability into the public consciousness. The basic idea of sustainability is to look at the long-term effects of one’s practices and evaluate whether or not they can continue in the same way. In green thought, this means looking at human economies in all of their complexity and determining whether or not the related ecosystems can continue to thrive and support them.

A combination of techniques has been advocated by environmentally aware dentists and medical professionals for increasing the sustainability of their professional practices. The long-term goal is to ensure that the practice of medicine can continue indefinitely. By limiting their impact on the environment, medical practices can be sustained for years to come.

Teeth professionals produce a certain amount of hazardous waste simply by the nature of their work. Dealing with living human tissue and operating upon it generates bio-medical waste that must be disposed of properly. By being aware and reducing this kind of waste, dental professionals can reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that are released when medical waste is incinerated.

Water is used in dentistry, and by conserving water, dentists can be eco-friendly. With a large volume of patients, the amount of water used adds up. Even a small reduction in the use of water per patient would have an effect.

By using surgical stainless steel which can be sterilized instead of disposable plastic, teeth fixers can reduce the amount of landfill waste that they create. Considering the materials one uses and recognizing their properties is one major step in any rethinking of one’s ecological impact. The invention of new materials could potentially change the amount of waste created by large industries.

These techniques may not seem like much, but they can lead to better techniques and technologies for making each industry as environmentally efficient as possible. This can reduce costs and keep populations thriving for many years.

You may not see the effects yet, but over time, medical professionals are more likely to shift to a sustainable model once they see that it benefits them both in the short-term, by reducing costs, and in the long-term by encouraging technological innovation to solve waste problems and keep the profession as a whole moving forward.