Verdant Vocations: A Dentist?
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 01. 7.08
Here’s the first in a series of posts about that third of our day spent beavering away at our chosen craft.
[Verdant: green, lush, rich. Vocation: calling, life's work, mission, purpose, function; profession, occupation, career, job, employment, trade, business, line, line of work, métier.]
A Green Dentist might :
1. buy Green Power to run their surgery
2. promote the use of replaceable head tooth brushes
3. email customers their invoice rather than printing them
4. advise customers of 'composite resin' as an alternative to mercury-based
amalgam fillings
5. install energy saving compact fluorescent and LED lighting where
appropriate
6. use natural ingredient mouthwashes in the surgery
7. employ low volatile organic compound (VOC) paints when refurbishing surgery and reception rooms
8. advise customers of the nearest public transport stops or bikeways
9. adhere strictly to government regulations for the safe disposal of waste mercury
10. have copies of quick-to-read Dr Seuss' The Lorax in the waiting room.
After we drew up the above list on the back of an envelope we though, “Gee, wonder if any dentists are actually doing this sort of stuff? Are we being realistic?” To our delight we found a couple of dental surgeries who go even further.
Green Dentistry use digital patient charting to reduce paper use, digital imaging (not traditional x-rays), which means 75 to 90% less radiation, their office utilizes only energy efficient T8 and MR16 lighting as well as natural ventilation cooling rather than air conditioning.
The Transcendentist practice what they call ecodentistry. This means they have linoleum floors, use cotton head rests and bibs that they launder/disinfect on-site instead of the usual disposables and use steam-based instrument sterilization among many other initiatives.
See also other links for greening your vocation:
TreeHugger’s How To Green Your Work Guide
Green@Work Magazine
The upcoming book: True Green at Work: 100 Ways You Can Make the Environment Your Business. [Australian version here.]
Most of these items are well intentioned and applicable to any health care environment. One point that I would raise though is the point about the resin/composite fillings being any better for your or the environment. The amount of mercury in the average restoration is likely less than your favorite shellfish meal and removing existing amalgam fillings is tantamount to double exposure. In fact, there are many cases where composites cannot be used (structural integrity of the tooth/class of restoration), and amalgam MUST be used. Additionally, the etching and bonding agents are often far more environmentally/physically harmful (my wife is a dentist). There are also no studies that affirm the idea that amalgam poses any long term health concerns (see link).
http://www.ada.org/public/media/presskits/fillings/index.asp
i'm a former [transcendentist] patient. it sounded great, but they are soooooo astronomically expensive. the same work dr.pockrass the "transcendentist" estimated at about $10,000 (for changing old mercury fillings to white amalgam for only about 7 teeth), was done by another dentist for about $3000. the other dentist was just as green, but didn't have the catchy name.
it's a shame you did not post about the many Dangers in common dentistry.
I'd suggest to anyone who cares about their health to have a read.....
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/8/4/201454.shtml
http://www.toxicteeth.org/pressroom_articles_tribune_122005.cfm
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983841,00.html
Although "eco-friendly" dentistry sounds like a marketing ploy in any case, I do think every medical practise should have environmentally sensitive policies. A couple you might have missed:
Kudos to the idea of informing patients of the nearest public transport method.
I've passed this article on to my father. ;)
This seems like an awesome new series! Ideas that can make ordinary things green are always great.
We gotta do the best we can do in all possible areas.
The picture is a tad creepy though. Haha.