A DATABASE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS WITHIN HEALTHCARE

The provision of dental care is known to be a significant contributor to healthcare’s carbon footprint. In light of this, there is increasing interest among dental professionals regarding what role they can play in addressing the climate crisis and reducing the environmental impacts of their day-to-day practice.

As with the broader healthcare decarbonization effort, disease prevention will need to be at the heart of dentistry’s transition toward more sustainable care provision. Sustainable procurement policies, switching to renewable sources of energy, and increasing utilization of telehealth services to reduce travel-related emissions will also be important priorities.

With a growing body of literature detailing the environmental impacts of different aspects of dental care, there is much that dental professionals can do to mitigate their impacts.

Want to learn more about the environmental impacts of dentistry?

Our database contains environmental impact estimates for a range of dentistry-related products and activities, including restorative materials, examination kits, common procedures, community interventions and more!

Below we present a gallery view of all the dentistry-related data sources currently included within our database. Scroll through and expand tiles to learn more about each data source, including its scope and methods.

If you want to explore environmental impact estimates for specific products and activities, scroll down further to explore the database itself, again filtered to only show dentistry-related studies.

— "Climate change is happening, and dentistry should be doing its part to reduce carbon emissions and waste. It is essential that clinicians, manufacturers and relevant stakeholders understand and are united in dealing with the environmental crisis facing our planet. Oral disease prevention and improvement must be key to this, as is further research to understand what actions dental teams can implement at a local level."

Batsford et al., 2022

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