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Dentistry as a profession should integrate sustainable development goals into daily practice and support a shift to a green economy in the pursuit of healthy lives and well-being for all through all stages of life.

This Guide has been developed as a practical resource for dental teams wishing to take action to make their practice more sustainable.

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Sustainable Dentistry Guide: Travel

A recent study commissioned by Public Health England measured the carbon emissions and calculated the carbon footprint of dental services. It found that unlike the NHS wider health service footprint (where the carbon emissions contribution of travel is smaller), the highest proportion of emissions in dentistry is from travel (64.5%). 

As well as producing carbon dioxide, petrol and diesel vehicles also cause local air pollution with significant health effects particularly on young children and people with respiratory and cardiovascular disease. Air pollution kills 40,000 people in the UK every year.

Reducing the need for travel and facilitating more sustainable alternatives such as public transport use, walking, cycling and car sharing will help to improve air quality and reduce travel associated emissions and sometimes also costs.

In a dental practice we need to consider staff and patient travel as well as transportation of goods and laboratory items to and from the practice.  Patient journeys can be reduced by booking family appointments together and completing multiple interventions in a single visit, where possible. You may also be able to liaise with your suppliers and dental laboratories to reduce the number of deliveries.

Encouraging Active Travel

Active travel has many potential benefits including health, environmental and economic. Encouraging active travel such as walking or cycling will help to reduce the carbon emissions costs and pollution associated with using vehicles.

The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommends that employers develop policies to encourage employees to walk, cycle or use other modes of transport involving physical activity to travel to and from work as part of their working day.

Offering incentives such as prizes e.g. a pedometer, sportswear or gym/sports class memberships, signing up to the Government’s Cycle to Work Scheme (to enable staff to buy a bike tax-free) as well as hosting activities or cycling and walking events at the practice may encourage your staff to increase active travel.

Electric bikes (or e-bikes) are pedal bikes assisted by an electric motor. This can make cycling accessible to a wider range of people over longer distances – potentially with less sweating involved!

How dental practitioners can encourage active travel

Electric vehicle charging points

Fuel-burning vehicles release emissions into the atmosphere which are harmful to the environment and to our health. A study has found that electric vehicles emit half the carbon emissions of diesel vehicles. Britain has made a commitment to ban all new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040 in a bid to tackle air pollution.

Providing electric vehicle charging points at your dental practice promotes the message of sustainability and can encourage staff and patients who travel by car to think about using an electric/hybrid vehicle. Charging points can cost as little as £300 if purchased through the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), a government run scheme.

How to install electric vehicle charging points at your Dental Practice

Sustainable Dentistry Guide: Equipment and Supplies

The manufacture and distribution of any object has an environmental impact, requiring input of raw materials and energy, often accompanied by release of pollutants to air, land and water as well as changes to land use and biodiversity. These impacts are often not visible to us at the point of use, whether of paper, plastic packaging, instruments or dental restoration materials. However, for the NHS in England, for example, supply chain emissions make up 57% of the total carbon footprint.

Dental teams can influence the environmental impact of their equipment and supplies by reviewing routine practices to ensure that items are only used when they are really necessary, looking for environmentally friendly alternatives and by engaging with suppliers to develop more sustainable practices.

Paper and timber procurement

Reducing the quantity of the paper the practice procures can be achieved by double sided printing/photocopying, and using digital media such as email or text messages to communicate with both patients and staff.

Ensuring both the paper and timber you procure meets the Government Buying Standards (GBS) via their checklists can help to guarantee the sustainability and legality of the products you purchase, with specifications on the minimum recycled content of paper products and best practice being highlighted. GBS are voluntary but are best practice for dental practices.

How to reduce plastic purchasing and waste

Dental practices produce huge amounts of waste plastic from plastic cups, disposable syringes, gloves, single use instruments, oral hygiene products, stationary and more.

Finding ways to limit the purchase of plastic and plastic-packaged items, encouraging plastic recycling and liaising with manufacturers about their plastic use and sustainability will help to reduce the plastic ‘burden’ and may reduce costs to your practice.

Actions to reduce dentistry plastic purchasing and waste

How to reduce chemical waste

Many chemicals are used daily in dental practice, including dental materials such as amalgam, cleaning and disinfectant products, radiography equipment and Nitrous Oxide for sedation.

There is an abundance of legislation surrounding the use of hazardous substances in healthcare. COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations) requires all dental employers in the UK to control exposure to hazardous substances to prevent ill health. The ‘Minamata Convention on Mercury’ effective from August 2017 encouraging the phase down of amalgam use has been designed to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and its compounds

Actions to to reduce chemical waste in dentistry:

How to engage your suppliers to be more sustainable

Engaging with suppliers and developing a questionnaire for assessing their sustainability practices when procuring goods is a good way to establish whether the products and their delivery are as environmentally sustainable as they can be and can also encourage suppliers to develop more sustainable practices.

How to optimise stock inventory management

Stock wastage has a huge environmental and financial impact. Out of date chemicals, dental products and stock often are disposed of in landfill or require specialist collection. Regular stock audit scan ensure that products nearing the end of their shelf life can be identified and used and wastage is minimised.

In larger facilities like hospitals, adopting the GS1 standards (Global Standards designed to improve efficiency, safety and visibility of supply chains) can also help to improve patient safety, by identifying stock which has reached dangerously low levels.

Sustainable Dentistry Guide: Energy

Buildings energy use makes up 15% of the carbon footprint of primary dental care. As well as contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, energy generation from fossil fuels is a significant source of air pollution, which in turn is responsible for 40,000 premature deaths each year in the UK.

Reducing energy consumption and investing in renewable electricity generation offer significant environmental, health and cost benefits for dental practices.

Buying Green energy

Switching to a green energy provider is a simple but effective way of incorporating
sustainability into your dental practice. There are range of green energy providers, as well as green tariffs offered by mixed energy companies. Find out which providers are available in your area and whether you could be saving money by switching to a renewable energy source price comparison sites can aid with this.

Modelled example

Sarah-Jane is a practice manager and at their last team meeting, a colleague mentioned that they were saving money since they changed energy provider at home. She used a comparison website to check her options, entering the practice postcode. She switched to a renewable energy company and the practice bills are the same or sometimes cheaper than before.

Generate your own power

The burning of fossil fuels for energy has a detrimental impact on the environment and dental practices consume a substantial amount of energy. However there are a number of systems dental practices could consider to generate their own energy. The benefits include making use of secure and local resources, reducing dependence on non-renewable energy, helping to reduce the production of greenhouse gases and other pollution and reducing your energy bills. It is also possible to generate income by selling your surplus energy back to your energy provider in some cases.

The most common small-scale energy generating systems available are:

Solar water heating (solar thermal): This is the most cost efficient option with pay back times for a £4000 system as little as 7.5 years. (This estimate is based on numbers provided from the Energy Saving Trust for a domestic household size of 6 where the solar thermal would be replacing a gas heating system).

Solar energy directly heats fluid in the tubes or panels which in turn heats water for use in sinks or showers within the practice. This is generally used in combination with a boiler which can top up the water temperature as necessary. A duel coil hot water tank is required (the system is not suitable for use with an on-demand ‘combi ‘ boiler).

Solar Photovoltaic systems (solar panels): The most common system is a 4kW generation capacity and can be installed without special permission. The current cost would be approx. £6000-£11000, with an inverter needing to be replaced every 10 years. This would suit practices who spend more than £10 per week on electricity, with a pay-back period on the solar panels in around 10-12 years.

Biomass systems: these are wood-fuelled, burning wood pellets, chips or logs to provide warmth in a single room or to power central heating and hot water boilers. Biomass heating of a practice can be sustainable if the Carbon dioxide emissions generated is taken up by forests or trees at the same rate as it is burnt. These would only be suitable for large practices, probably in rural areas with access to biomass products, and space to store them. Boilers can be expensive with installation costs of £6000-12000 and hardware around £5000-£12000

Ground source heat pumps (GSHPs): use pipes buried in the ground to extract heat and transfer it for water or underfloor or warm air heating systems. A heat pump costs around £5000.

Monitor overheating and insulate your building

Heating a dental practice consumes a substantial amount of energy, produces carbon
emissions and is costly. Improving energy efficiency by monitoring overheating and improving insulation is not only good for the environment but in many cases will save the practice money. Within the UK properties which are constructed, sold, or let require an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). Insulation increases the EPC rating of the practice building, which can add to its re-sale or rental value.

Monitor overheating

Dental practices should consider room thermostats, timers and thermostatic valves to improve energy use and prevent over-use of energy when not needed. This can save domestic users £150 on their gas bill and attendant carbon emissions. It is also possible that there may be areas in the practice which are over-heated. Staff need to be encouraged to report such occurrences to improve energy efficiency.

Automatic door closures can reduce the amount of heat loss/gain in rooms. Air
conditioning can also be an intensive use of energy so monitoring its use and employing passive cooling measures (such as closing window blinds and opening/closing windows appropriately) are important. Make sure that thermostats are not set to trigger heating and air conditioning at the same time!

Insulation:

One of the most cost effective ways to improve energy efficiency is to insulate the loft.
Dental practices should increase their insulation to at least 270mm to improve their EPC rating by 10-15 points (possible costs £292 with £20 annual savings). Cavity wall insulation and solid wall insulation are other options, increasing the EPC rating by 5-10 points however it is also a more expensive choice, with proportionately less attractive annual savings (possible costs £4283 with £89 annual savings)

Insulating the hot water cylinder: Approximate cost: £16; annual savings £29, EPC rating a few points.

Double glazing Increases the EPC rating several points.

Installing energy efficient lighting (£14 cost; £15 annual savings)

Sealing around windows, and doors using products such as ‘caulkor’ weather stripping can slightly improve energy efficiency. This draught proofing (£107 cost, annual savings: £12) can also increase your EPC rating.

Make sure that adequate ventilation is maintained.

Modelled example

Amber is a practice owner of a mixed NHS/private practice which is in a mid 1930’s semidetached house. To save money and become more sustainable, she decided to install loft insulation 9 months ago, at the end of last summer. It was completed during 1 week.

200mm of glass fibre insulation added to existing 100mm from when the house was built, costing £150. Everyone in the practice is encouraged to be involved in saving energy in the practice and monitoring overheating. This is part of the practice’s sustainability policy and is discussed at each practice meeting. There are thermometers in each room so that the room temperature can be monitored. There are posters displayed in the practice to remind all staff to use the thermostats to reduce amount of energy used for heating and turn off air conditioning when not needed. It is now Spring and on reviewing the practice energy bills for the winter period, she is pleased to see there has been a significant decrease, by approximately 20% which is very promising. The practice is now being assessed for cavity wall and solid wall insulation to provide further insulation and cost savings.

Adopt energy efficient technologies

Apart from considering how a dental practice is heated or cooled, there are a number of other ways to reduce energy-related carbon emissions within the practice. The energy use of equipment can be reduced- for example, curing lights are now using LED technology, lowering their energy use further. When purchasing new products, the practice should aim to procure the most energy efficient appliances, and opt for the longest cost-effective warranty. Many appliances e.g. microwaves and fridges are covered by energy appliance rankings. Within the dental practice, lighting can use a lot of power. If a practice contains eight 60 Watt light bulbs and these are turned on for 10 hours a day, the cost is approximately £150 (507kg CO2e) per year. Changing all the light bulbs to fluorescent would reduce the energy expenditure and carbon emissions by approximately one quarter, and the savings with LED bulbs would be even greater. Computers differ in their energy consumption. Used 8 hours per day, 5 days per week, a desktop computer will consume between £25 and £62 of energy per year, and a further £50 per year if left on overnight. Dental practices can reduce energy consumption by choosing energy efficient smaller hard drives or laptops and by turning them off overnight. In larger organisations, software is available to force computers and monitors into standby or sleep.

Modelled example

Sara is a practice manager and has instituted an energy saving policy in the dental practice where she works. This involves a checklist to ensure both equipment and appliances are fully turned off at night or when not in use. When procuring new goods, she researches which product is most energy efficient and its lifespan as well as how it will be ultimately disposed of. She has noticed a slight reduction in the practice energy bills and will continue to monitor this over the next year to see how much money they will save per year.

Make efficient use of space

Space utilisation is defined by the UK Higher Education Space Management Group (SMG) as a measure of “whether and how space is being used”. Within dentistry space utilisation is about how often a dental space is used, and how much of a dental space is used (a combination of a frequency and occupancy).

Calculating optimal utilisation rates requires a structured approach to determine effective usage of dental surgery, reception, waiting room. A maximally efficient, effectively run and sustainable dental practice would always have the dental chair in use, so that the energy required to heat the building would be optimal.

Sustainable Dentistry Guide: Waste

Disposing of our waste and sending it to landfill or incineration has a major environmental impact through release of greenhouse gases and pollution of air, land and water. However, more than 90% of the environmental impact of most products occurs in manufacture and distribution, i.e. before a packet is ever opened. So, where possible, we need to reduce the purchase and use of items in the first place to achieve the greatest environmental (and financial) savings. A ‘Reduce-Reuse-Recycle’ policy in the dental surgery, reception, waiting room and staff areas will help to minimise waste and divert from landfill and incineration, saving money and reducing emissions. 

Improve clinical waste segregation

In a dental practice we need to consider both clinical and non-clinical waste. Poor waste segregation can lead to non-clinical waste being disposed of in the clinical waste stream, increasing the cost to the practice and potential harm to the environment from incineration.

Introduce Recycling

Recycling is an important way to reduce landfill and incinerated waste, and the associated environmental consequences. Commonly recycled items include: aluminium cans, tins, cardboard, paper, plastic, glass and food waste, which can be composted. Providing clearly labelled recycling facilities throughout dental practices makes recycling accessible for both staff and patients, and can hopefully reduce costs associated with incineration, whilst reducing carbon emissions. It is worth investigating waste disposal contracts on offer locally, as recycled materials have a financial value and some companies reflect this in a lower cost for disposing of recycled versus domestic waste.

Repair and reuse durable goods

Regular service and repair as needed of machinery and durable goods is a great way to reduce our expenditure, as well as landfill waste, and the associated environmental
consequences. Durable goods include furniture, IT, building materials, walking aids and reusable medical devices.

Reuse or rehome unwanted items

Reusing, up-cycling or finding a new home for items a dental practice no longer needs (like furniture or computers) is a great way to save resources and reduce landfill waste. Donations can be made to dental charities, local charity shops, community groups and advertised online.

Managing food waste

Disposing of food waste by landfill has a major environmental impact due to release of
methane (a potent greenhouse gas), and is expensive. A study by the Environmental
Protection Agency found that 15% landfill waste from Irish healthcare facilities is made up of
food waste.
Appropriate management of food waste will return nutrients to the soil again with lower carbon emissions. There are 3 alternative options for dental practices to consider disposing of food waste:

Safely dispose of medication waste

The dental team is aware of the need to reduce antibiotic prescribing in line with the growing resistance to antibiotics. Along with antibiotic resistance there is also a growing environmental problem of other pharmaceutical residues entering the environment through improper disposal. Patients not only excrete by-products of medication, but many also dispose of medicines in toilets or sinks. Dissolved in waste-water these can enter rivers and lakes and pass into the food-chain and may adversely affect animals including humans.

Unused medication is also costing the NHS £300 million each year. As prescribers of
medication, dentists should advise patients on the safe, local recommended method for disposing of unused or expired pharmaceuticals and packaging, by returning them to the dentist for disposal (if the dentist disposes of medication) or more commonly, their pharmacist).

Pharmacies are legally required to accept unwanted medication from patients. There is Government guidance on the safe management of healthcare waste.
Respiratory inhalers are particularly polluting because the propellants they contain are powerful greenhouse gases – consider collecting used inhalers for recycling, or signposting the local recycling points for your patients, for example via the GSK ‘Complete the Cycle’ recycling and recovery scheme.

Modelled example

Josh is a practice manager at a mixed NHS/dental practice. His practice has recently
reviewed how they dispose of waste medication and Josh has been appointed the lead person to go to for information or advice regarding this.

He has liaised with 3 local pharmacies and information on safe disposal of medication is now clearly displayed on the practice notice board for patients and staff.

Stock is checked each week by the practice dental nursing staff to ensure that
medications are used within their time window. This involves a look into the drawers
containing dental materials and checking each for the expiry date. Any materials to be
used first are placed towards the front of the drawers. Any out-of-date stock is removed and placed in a dedicated box for disposal of medication and expired dental materials.

Minimise the environmental impact from disposal of Dental Amalgam

The Minamata Treaty aims to reduce the release of mercury into the environment and for dentistry, this involves the phasing out of amalgam use. Mercury can be neurotoxic and teratogenic, it can accumulate as it rises through the food chain and it can also impact the microbiological activity in soil.

The EU’s mercury regulation has the same aim for the territory of the European union, with both documents prescribing a phase-down of the use of dental amalgam for environmental reasons, in line with the domestic circumstances of each country and in tandem with recommendations for prevention programmes and increased research into alternative materials.

‘Best management practices for the handling and disposal of waste amalgam include the use of chair-side traps, amalgam separators compliant with iso.11143, inspecting and cleaning traps, and using a commercial waste service to recycle or dispose of the amalgam collected.

Dental practices in the UK are required by law to use amalgam separators. These have been shown to reduce the amount of mercury in waste water by 90% in comparison to practices not using separators. The environmental impacts of alternative dental restoration materials have yet to be fully explored.

Modelled example

Gavin is a dentist at a mixed NHS/dental practice, and has been reading about the changes that are being introduced to dentistry as a consequence of the Minimata treaty. With the phasing down of amalgam, he knows the practice needs to make sure their amalgam is preencapsulated and that the amalgam separators meet the standards required in each dental surgery. Gavin includes a course in posterior composite placement as part of his CPD planning, and plans a further one in inlay and onlay placement for the next year. Currently, Gavin can still use amalgam in many cases but he is aware that amalgam may be phased out by 2030 and that other countries do not use it at all.

Reduce water waste

Clean water is a valuable but finite resource, essential for not only the provision of
healthcare but for the existence of human life. One in eight people globally lack access to safe, clean water. Even in countries where rainfall is plentiful, water treatment and pumping requires significant energy and infrastructure.

Conserving water use can therefore help to save both money, carbon and the use of
chemicals in the cleaning process. In some buildings, it may be possible to install a system to collect rainwater and use this for flushing toilets.

Sustainable Dentistry Guide: Biodiversity and green space

Biodiversity refers to the variety of living species which interact with one another to form ecosystems. Ecosystems are dynamic with each species depending upon and impacted by interactions with many others. Humans are no exception! We rely on trees and plants converting carbon dioxide to oxygen, microbes creating fertile soil, insects breaking down waste matter and pollinating crops, predators balancing numbers of prey animals, and so on. 

The diversity of species is important, not only because each species impacts on many others, but because it provides resilience against changing conditions caused by factors such as climate, land use and spread of pathogens. Currently, biodiversity is collapsing worldwide (including in the UK), as species are lost due to farming practices, habitat destruction and climate change. This has been described as the ‘sixth mass extinction event in geological history’.

Dental practices have the opportunity to protect and enhance local biodiversity through simple changes to their premises and by supporting local food growing.

Create a wildlife friendly garden

Green space within a city encompasses everywhere vegetation grows. Within a dental
setting, it applies if the dental practice or surrounding grounds have any kind of green area or garden, which can improve air quality, and provide protection against floods and heatwaves. Gardens are a significant contributor to urban biodiversity by providing food, and shelter could form a complete habitat for certain species of insects and smaller animals.

The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare has developed the NHS Forest, a national programme to increase the quality and use of green space on or near to healthcare estates for staff, patients and the local community to use for exercise, rest and relaxation. Natural environments have enormous benefits for people’s wellbeing as evidenced by many research studies. For example, hospital patients who have a view of trees from their window have been shown to recover more quickly and to need fewer painkillers than similar patients who can’t see trees from their beds.

To maximise the biodiversity in your practice’s green space, native plants are the ideal. Fruit such as berries, melon, squash, cucumber, blossoming trees and herbs such as mint, rosemary and sage are all attractive to insects. Vertical structures, built from multiple layers of different plant heights can provide more spaces for wildlife to co-exist. Areas of standing water such as containers filled with water or even larger ponds can also help attract insects, birds and amphibians. Habitats for insects including solitary bees can be encouraged by making insect homes using bamboo canes tied together.

Support local food growing

Supporting local food growing can be an opportunity for all dental team members to engage with the local community, learn more about sustainability and to contribute positively to lowering carbon emissions.

Growing food onsite in a practice garden or obtaining an allotment to be used by practice staff or patients offers the opportunity to learn about food from farm to fork, and can also help reduce emissions that would have been generated by transporting such items. In larger facilities like hospitals, encouraging staff to support local food growers and producers has a positive effect on the local economy, as well as reducing the miles our food will have to travel and the associated carbon cost. This could be achieved by selling local produce in the staff canteen

How to green the built envioronment

There are a number of ways in which the built environment can be designed or adapted to reduce the impact of growing urban sprawl on local wildlife. These features include green roofs, green walls, modified brick and roof tiles, balconies, and roof eaves, all of which can support a range of flora and fauna.

This is crucial as, within the UK, 15% of around 8000 species are facing extinction, with David Attenborough suggesting that the UK has lost more nature long term than the global average, making the UK one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. Scientists identify many reasons for the reduction in the world’s insect populations, notably the use of pesticides, the spread of monoculture crops, urbanization and habitat destruction.

Sustainable Dentistry Guide: Measuring and embedding sustainability

The dental team needs to understand the need for change and feel inspired to act. Part of achieving this is trying to assist the team in thinking about sustainability not as a separate entity but as integral to successful everyday functioning of the dental practice, and to patients’ overall health. 

A formal sustainability plan with actions and outcome measures can signal that the practice is taking this agenda seriously and measuring progress. This then needs to be embedded into general management processes (such as the routine staff meetings) to ensure that momentum is not lost as other issues arise.

All staff and patients should be encouraged to share their values and solutions to support the practice in becoming more sustainable.

Communicate your sustainability vision to staff and patients

Communicating your practice’s sustainability vision and how it relates to your practice can increase awareness and support amongst your staff, patients, other dental practices and local community.

The vision can be communicated both internally and externally. It could include putting sustainability material within the waiting room or on the practice’s website or social media pages, highlighting the steps that the practice is taking and progress made.

Sustainability should be included in all staff induction packs, with reference to the
sustainability vision and policy within practice handbooks. Information could include information on the Top 10 Tips and general advice, information on sustainability (e.g. carbon emissions of active travel, significant carbon emissions associated with dentistry). Staff could also be asked to complete the Sustainable Dentistry e-learning session (see link below). With such a process, new staff are more likely to consider sustainability as an integral part of their role.

Develop a sustainable practice policy

A practice policy or plan can be quite simple for a smaller practice, but a larger practice may require more complex documents. Although not a requirement for dental practices, larger healthcare organisations are encouraged to have Sustainable Development Management Plans. These plans are an indicator in the Public Health Outcomes Framework. The policy needs to be practice specific and will contain an action plan with SMART targets with allocated staff members responsible for specific actions. The practice needs to consider the resources for implementing the plan. Sometimes these may require short-term financial investment for longer-term financial gains.

Measure and evaluate sustainable changes

Embedding sustainability into a healthcare setting is a quality improvement process. An integral part of quality improvement is the use of measurement. Measurements could be used in the future for dental practices to benchmark their sustainability performance against their colleagues, and it is possible that sustainability metrics could also be used in future commissioning decisions. Indicators recorded in order to measure sustainability within the dental practice should be SMART: Specific (the measure should quantify an important result e.g. kWh of electricity), Measurable, Achievable, Relevant (i.e. related to sustainability), and Time specific (e.g. over
one month, one year etc.)

Carbon Footprint:

There are no ready-made carbon footprint calculators for dental practices but by collecting electricity and gas use (KWh), a sample of patient and staff travel, and procurement (purchases) information, a practice can capture a significant part of its carbon emissions. The carbon footprint is calculated by converting this data into emissions using DEFRA or SDU figures used in the Scottish and English Carbon footprint studies.

Simple to understand elements of sustainability could be displayed in a sustainability
electronic folder and on patient information boards within the dental practice.

Evaluating:

Evaluation is the process of assessing or determining the significance of an action. Many dental practices may wish to evaluate their sustainability indicators informally e.g. comparing energy use, or waste use from one given period to another.
A more formal evaluation can be performed quantitatively (e.g. using data) or qualitatively (e.g. using non data information such as descriptions of sustainability improvements). Evaluation can either be process (how an outcome was achieved) or outcome based (the actual change, or how effective the program was in producing change).

Sustainable Dentistry How-to Guide: Webinars

The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare in partnership with Health Education England is hosting a webinar series to launch our how-to guide for sustainable dentistry. The webinars will introduce sustainability in healthcare and dentistry, and each webinar is worth one hour of verifiable CPD.

For one webinar, we teamed up with NUS and Public Health England (East of England) to launch the East Anglia pilot of the Green Impact programme for dental practices, which links to the guide. Speakers were Dr Sara Harford, CSH/HEE Sustainable Dentistry Scholar 2017-19, Charlotte Bonner, Sustainability Innovation Manager at NUS, and Dr Frances Mortimer, Medical Director at the Centre For Sustainable Healthcare:

Tony Ryan, a professor of polymer chemistry at the University of Sheffield, has worked with plastics all his life and is leading a research project looking at how dentists could make better use of it.

Other resources

Authors: Sara Harford, Darshini Ramasubbu, Brett Duane and Frances Mortimer on behalf of the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (2018). Development of the guide was funded by Health Education England. The Guide accompanies a series of academic articles in the British Dental Journal (2019).

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