Going Green With Dentistry

Prepared by Vanessa Ripley, RDH

Today our society is making great efforts to “go green” with recycling, the elimination of BPA plastics, banning pesticides and the coming soon Green Bin composting initative planned by the City of Ottawa.  But what can dental offices do to go green?  We can all raise awareness of green and environmental initiatives, and this blog article will help spread the word on how Metropolitan Dental is trying to do its part in Ottawa.

At Metropolitan Dental, we have incorporated several practices in our office and philosophy of care to ensure that we are being proactive in the green community.

• We use an automated email reminder system, a paperless way to communicate and confirm appointment information

• We use digital imaging now instead of traditional x-rays.  This has two great benefits for our patients and the environment; no toxic x-ray development chemicals used, in addition to an 80-90 percent reduction in radiation exposure to our patients

• We have a KaVo Key 3 laser in our office.  Our laser is used for a variety of procedures including NON-surgical interventions – which would have otherwise required more invasive procedures and the necessity for anesthetic

• We offer metal-free fillings, crowns and bridges

• We have available great quality electric toothbrushes – including Sonicare and Braun OralB.  Using one can reduce the amount of plastic disposables going to the landfill and these brushes are proven to improve overall oral health

• We use hypo-allergenic, non-leaching, non-BPA plastics for appliances and advanced night guards

• We use ONLY non-toxic, non-chemical peroxide based disinfectants that have no harmful impact to air or environmental quality

• We have low-energy and Energy Star rated computers and monitors, which save energy

• We have a special waste-water (amalgam) filtration system to ensure that dental materials are not going down the drain

• And finally, our office recycles whatever we can as part of the municipal waste management initiatives and is always looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint by cutting down on waste and energy use.

Every effort makes an impact and we all know that little things as a global community will help our world in many ways.  Going green, to the extent we can, is in the best interest of everyone – and as a small business we try to do our part as an Ottawa dental office to make Ottawa a better place to live.