학술논문
A life cycle analysis of the environmental impact of procurement, waste and water in the dental practice.
Document Type
Academic Journal
Author
Suresh P; Undergraduate Student, Dental Science, Dublin Dental University Hospital, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. sureshpe@tcd.ie.; Crotty J; Division of Restorative Dentistry and Periodontology, Dublin Dental University Hospital, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.; Tesanovic S; Undergraduate Student, Dental Science, Dublin Dental University Hospital, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.; Alaweed O; Undergraduate Student, Dental Science, Dublin Dental University Hospital, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.; Doyle S; Undergraduate Student, Dental Science, Dublin Dental University Hospital, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.; Kiandee M; Undergraduate Student, Dental Science, Dublin Dental University Hospital, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.; Hayes E; Undergraduate Student, Dental Science, Dublin Dental University Hospital, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.; Umeh V; Undergraduate Student, Dental Science, Dublin Dental University Hospital, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.; Khalilinejad B; Undergraduate Student, Dental Science, Dublin Dental University Hospital, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.; Duane B; Associate Professor in Dental Public Health, Dublin Dental University Hospital, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
Source
Publisher: British Dental Journal Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 7513219 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1476-5373 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00070610 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Br Dent J Subsets: MEDLINE
Subject
Language
English
Abstract
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.Materials and methods A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted using the Ecoinvent database v3.8 and these data were processed using OpenLCA v1.10.3 software.Results The carbon footprint per patient was significantly reduced after the recommendations were implemented. For instance, using water from a rainwater collection tank instead of the mains supply saved 30 g CO2eq (carbon dioxide equivalents) per patient, a 90% reduction in carbon footprint.Discussion This comparative LCA identified some effective changes which can be easily made by a dental practice. Nevertheless, some actions require some initial financial investment and may be difficult to implement in a busy modern dental practice setting.Conclusion The findings from this study can be used to guide dental practices to making choices which are more sustainable and eco-friendly in the future.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
(© 2024. The Author(s).)