ABSTRACT
Background:
Dentistry is a resource-intensive discipline of healthcare that has a notable impact on the environment. Sustainability should be the major consideration for healthcare service providers to support climate change policies. Green dentistry is an efficient strategy for practicing eco-friendly dentistry. This study was conducted to assess the awareness, knowledge, and barriers to practicing green dentistry among dental practitioners and dental students.
Materials and Methods:
A cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical online questionnaire survey with 22 questions was carried out.
Results:
51.8% of participants were not aware of the concept of green dentistry. Practitioners of the age group 20-30 years are more willing to transform their dental practice into green practice to reduce the carbon footprint of their clinic (P < 0.05). Chi-square data analysis shows that dental practitioners treating more than 20 patients in a week have a better awareness of the concept of green dentistry (P < 0.05).
Conclusion:
Within the limitations of this study, dental professionals in the younger age group are eager to transform their dental practices to green practices to lessen their clinics’ carbon footprints. Financial constraints limit the implementation of green dentistry into clinical practice.
KEYWORDS: Awareness of green dentistry, eco-friendly dentistry, green dentistry, sustainable dentistry
INTRODUCTION
Dentistry is a resource-intensive area of medicine with a significant environmental impact.[1] Dental offices use a lot of water,[2] produce a lot of plastic waste,[3] and use a lot of electricity.[4] Sustainability should be the major consideration for healthcare service providers to support climate change policies. Green dentistry is an innovative approach to reducing the environmental impact of dental practices and helps in establishing an environmentally friendly dental practice. Green dentistry is an efficient strategy for practicing eco-friendly dentistry. Despite that, very few dentists have adopted its principles in their everyday work. In order to determine the dental professionals’ and dental students’ awareness, knowledge, and restrictions to practicing green dentistry, a study was done.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical online questionnaire survey was carried out. Regardless of their area of specialization, the survey was given to dental professionals from solo practices, group practices, academic institutions, and dental students. Ethical approval was obtained from the ethical committee of Karnavati University, India. The individual is allowed to give only one answer. The 22-question survey was distributed via Google forms to 1000 randomly selected participants on different online platforms.
A series of questions covering demographic information (gender, email address, title, age, country of practice, and the number of patients treated each week), dentists’ knowledge of green dentistry, and their use and understanding of eco-friendly techniques in clinical practice (particularly the strategies and knowledge of biomedical waste management, toxic dental products, radiographs, energy, natural resources, and newer technologies). In order to evaluate the data, SPSS version 21.0 was used (IBM Corp, Version 21.0. Armonk, NY, USA). We compared binary data using the Chi-square test.
RESULTS
The response rate was 25.3%. The response rate was low amongst Dental practitioners (12.6%) compared to dental students (38%). Demographic details of participants are given in Table 1. Overall awareness about green dentistry amongst participants was only 48.2%. The knowledge of participants regarding biomedical waste management was 39.1%. In efforts to minimize utilization and wastage of natural resources, willingness to adopt digital prescriptions (27%), electronic patient records (40.9%), waterless vacuum systems (13.8%), and solar energy (22.1%) were noted [Table 2]. 58.9% of participants were aware of the concept of the 4 “R”s (Reduce, reuse, recycle, and Rethink). 72.3% of participants were in favor of the need for law amendment and regulatory body for carbon emission reduction. 66.8% of participants were willing to transform their dental practices into green practices to reduce their carbon footprint. And most importantly, 56.9% of participants mentioned lack of information regarding green dentistry as the most prominent limiting factor while pursuing green dentistry [Table 3].
Table 1.
Demography of participants
| Attributes | Number | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | ||
| Male | 70 | 27.7% |
| Female | 183 | 72.3% |
| Designation | ||
| Dental practitioner | 63 | 24.9% |
| Dental student | 190 | 75.1% |
| Age group | ||
| <20 years | 55 | 21.7% |
| 20-30 years | 159 | 62.8% |
| 31-40 years | 19 | 7.5% |
| 41-50 years | 17 | 6.7% |
| >50 years | 3 | 1.2% |
| Number of treated patients in a week | ||
| 2-10 | 49 | 19.4% |
| 11-20 | 33 | 13% |
| >20 | 33 | 13% |
Table 2.
Participants’ efforts to minimize utilization and wastage of natural resources
| Attributes | Number | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Use of traditional X-ray films | 130 | 51.4% |
| Use of digital prescriptions | 68 | 27% |
| Use of electronic patient records | 103 | 40.9% |
| Use of waterless vaccum system | 33 | 13.8% |
| Use of solar energy | 56 | 22.1% |
Table 3.
Chi square data analysis showing willingness of practitioners to transform their dental practice in green practice
| Crosstab | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||||
| To reduce carbon footprint, do you aim to transform your dental practice into a Green Practice? | Total | ||||
|
| |||||
| No | Not right now, but in future for sure | Yes | |||
| Age | |||||
| <20 years | Count | 2 | 20 | 33 | 55 |
| % within To reduce carbon footprint, do you aim to transform your dental practice into a Green Practice? | 33.3% | 25.6% | 19.5% | 21.7% | |
| 20-30 years | Count | 3 | 47 | 109 | 159 |
| % within To reduce carbon footprint, do you aim to transform your dental practice into a Green Practice? | 50.0% | 60.3% | 64.5% | 62.8% | |
| 31-40 years | Count | 0 | 6 | 13 | 19 |
| % within To reduce carbon footprint, do you aim to transform your dental practice into a Green Practice? | 0.0% | 7.7% | 7.7% | 7.5% | |
| 41-50 years | Count | 0 | 5 | 12 | 17 |
| % within To reduce carbon footprint, do you aim to transform your dental practice into a Green Practice? | 0.0% | 6.4% | 7.1% | 6.7% | |
| >50 years | Count | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| % within To reduce carbon footprint, do you aim to transform your dental practice into a Green Practice? | 16.7% | 0.0% | 1.2% | 1.2% | |
| Total | Count | 6 | 78 | 169 | 253 |
| % within To reduce carbon footprint, do you aim to transform your dental practice into a Green Practice? | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | |
| Value | df | P (<0.05 is signifiant) | |||
| Pearson chi-square | 15.576 | 8 | 0.049 | ||
DISCUSSION
Natural dentistry, progressive dentistry, unconventional dentistry, biocompatible dentistry, and holistic dentistry are other terms used for green dentistry. The 4Rs concept is the core concept of green dentistry which includes “reduce,” “reuse,” “recycle,” and “rethink.” Reusing existing materials after proper disinfection or recycling them to create new materials can help reduce the usage of both hazardous and non-hazardous materials. It can also help to consider using alternative, less toxic, or naturally extracted items in everyday practice.
The purpose of the current study was to evaluate dental professionals’ and dental students’ attitudes toward, and awareness of, Green, sustainable dentistry. In the present study, 51.8% of participants were not aware of the concept of green dentistry. These findings disagree with those of the study carried out by Shad et al., where only 16% of participants had less awareness about green dentistry.[5] Lack of awareness and knowledge of green dentistry amongst dental students and practitioners can be improvised by incorporating these concepts into the academic curriculum.[6]
24.1% of participants were not implementing the recycling of paper and general waste. The Lack of implementations of recycling can be improvised by education on the segregation of waste before disposal. 63.1% of participants believed that minimal use of single-use plastic can reduce the consumption of natural resources. 44.4% of participants believed that reducing the use of paper waste by adopting electronic patient health records can preserve natural resources. 53.8% of participnats were not aware of biomedical waste management color coding. These findings confirm dental students’ ignorance of biomedical waste management issues in India and practitioners.[7] 51.4% of participants are still using traditional x-ray film. The adoption of digital radiographs can reduce the use of biohazardous chemicals in dentistry. Adoption of patient management software is high amongs the participants (44.4%). Use of digital prescriptions is still low (27%). The use of a waterless vacuum systems is low (13.8%) amongst participants. A Waterless vacuum system can significantly reduce water wastage.[8,9] Financial constraints restrict the implementation of concepts of green dentistry into clinical practice.[10,11]
72.3% of participants believe that the carbone emission reduction law amendment should be established for the entire health sector and that a regulatory body can help in the implementation and maintenance of the reduced carbon emission. We can minimize the net carbon footprint of the healthcare sector by developing sustainable dental practices. 97.6% of participants are willing to transform their dental practice to reduce their carbon footprint. Practitioners of the age group 20-30 years are more willing to transform their dental practice into green practice to reduce the carbon footprint of their clinic (P < 0.05). Chi-square data analysis shows that dental practitioners treating more than 20 patients in a week have a better awareness of the concept of green dentistry (P < 0.05). 56.9% of participants believed that lack of information regarding green dentistry is the most prominent limiting factor while pursuing green dentistry. These findings are consistent with the research done by Martin N et al.[12] Programs for continuing dental education help spread information and understanding about green dentistry. By implementing these ideas into academic curricula, it will be possible to improve dental students’ and practitioners’ lack of training and expertise in green dentistry.[13]
CONCLUSION
Within the limitations of this study, dental professionals in the younger age range (20-30 years) are eager to transform their dental practices into to green practices in order to lessen their clinics’ carbon footprints. Financial constraints limit the implementation of green dentistry into clinical practice. Adoption of green dentistry can help in the preservation of natural resources and reduce carbon emissions.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
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