A life cycle analysis of the environmental impact of procurement, waste and water in the dental practice.

Background Health care is a significant contributor to climate change. Global pressure for a change towards a more sustainable way of providing dental health care has resulted in the creation of the Green Impact Toolkit, which is comprised of a list of suggested changes that dental practices can make to become more sustainable in a number of categories, such as procurement, waste and water.Aims To compare the effectiveness of changes suggested by the Green Impact Toolkit.

Cognitive Development.

Cognitive development in children begins with brain development. Early life exposures may both positively and negatively influence cognitive development in children. Infants, toddlers, and children learn best in secure, nurturing environments and when attachment to a consistent caregiver is present.

An environmental impact study of inter-dental cleaning aids.

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the environmental footprint of eight inter-dental cleaning aids.

Materials And Methods: A comparative life cycle analysis was conducted based on an individual person using inter-dental cleaning aids every day for 5 years. The primary outcome was a life cycle impact assessment.

A review of HTM 01-05 through an environmentally sustainable lens.

Patients deserve to be treated in a safe and clean environment with consistent standards of care every time they receive treatment. It is essential that the risk of person-to-person transmission of infections be minimised, yet it is also essential that planetary harm (and therefore public harm) is minimised with respect to resource consumption, air pollution, environmental degradation etc.In 2013, the Department of Health introduced the Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 01-05 providing dental practices with advice on patient safety when decontaminating reusable instruments in primary care.