Sustainable dentistry

Sustainability has been defined as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”, and for dental practices, this means minimising adverse effects on the environment and helping to conserve natural resources.

While this encompasses a wide range of factors, carbon emissions are a critical component, and with the UK government committed to reaching ‘net zero’ by 2050, NHS-contracted practices in England should be aware that since April 2023, every Integrated Care System now has a Green Plan as part of the NHS’s own net zero commitment.

In recent years, a number of organisations have developed materials to support greater sustainability in dentistry, and the College has brought a number of them together on this page to encourage dental practice teams to understand and reduce their impact on the environment, and to play their part in responding to the climate crisis.

e-Learning

NHS England’s e-Learning for Health Environmental sustainability in dentistry module provides a 30-minute introduction to the subject matter and includes practical examples.

Freely available to all dental professionals, those not already registered to use e-Learning for Health will first need to create an account.

The recorded webinar Sustainability in dentistry and healthcare, co-hosted by the College in 2022, looked at the effect of healthcare on climate change and discussed some of the practical aspects relevant to general dental practice.

It provides 2¼ hours of certified CPD and is available free of charge to College members, with a small fee applying to non-members.

The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare’s How to Guide for Dental Practices provides a more detailed exploration covering travel, equipment and supplies, energy, waste, biodiversity and green space, and measuring and embedding sustainability.

With modelled examples throughout, consideration is also given in relation to each suggested action to the ease and costs of implementation and the financial return on investment.

The FDI World Dental Federation has developed a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) on Sustainability in Dentistry, which consists of three hours of interactive learning modules that help users understand the impacts of oral healthcare on the planet and how to use evidence-based dentistry to improve the oral health of patients in an environmentally conscious way.

The MOOC is free of charge for dental professionals and a certificate is available on completion of module 1. Further modules will be available in the future.

Guidelines

The Clinical guidelines for environmental sustainability in dentistry, which aim to give staff working in dentistry a better understanding of how to make services more environmentally sustainable, were produced by Trinity College Dublin in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Dental Officer for England earlier this year.

Toolkit & accreditation

Green Impact, a UNESCO-recognised organisation working with the NHS, has developed an online toolkit for dental practices committed to improving their sustainability and social responsibility, offering wide-ranging information as well as practical advice that teams can implement.

Dental practices using the toolkit can access support to achieve their sustainability objectives and can choose to work towards bronze, silver or gold level accreditation. Registration is free of charge to NHS-contracted practices throughout the UK.

The Sustainability in Dentistry interactive toolkit, developed by the FDI World Dental Federation, offers practical guidance to help dental teams in all settings practice in a more sustainable way.

Practices can register to take part for free and earn bronze, silver and gold recognition awards by completing a series of challenges and tasks to reduce their environmental impact.

Systemic review

Sustainability in dentistry: Leading for change is a scoping review to inform and engage the dental profession, dental industry, and wider oral health and dental care infrastructure on the environmental sustainability of practicing dentistry.

Organised thematically, it provides an in-depth exploration of wide-ranging aspects of the sustainability of clinical practice such as legislation, health service emissions targets, prescribing, procurement, education and regulation, and makes recommendations for change that can be undertaken by each part of the system.

College resources

Relevant CGDent events, news and blogs are detailed below.

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