Dental Office Waste & pollution
There are thought to be four main ways that Dental offices produce waste.
/Infection Control Methods Toxic disinfectants and disposable barriers can often be hard on the environment and hard to dispose of healthily. This includes methods they use to sterile equipment and process, as they tend to be a major waste when handled poorly. On top of it, the chemicals used are highly toxic. It can often even be hard to find non-toxic alternatives.
Mercury Containing Material this is less rare then people think- and the mercury enters our water supply. Amalgam filling material includes equal parts of elemental mercury and an alloy powder mostly composed of silver, tin, and copper. The EPA estimates 50% of all mercury comes from dental offices.
X-Ray Trash and Chemical Waste Traditional x-rays fixers contain chemicals such as Ammonium Thiocyanate and Boric Anhydride. These are chemical irritants that effect our eyes and skin in a harmful way. It is also toxic to our blood, kidneys and lover, and repeated exposure can cause dramatic organ damage. On top of being toxic to people, they are dangerous to fish and the majority of animals. According to Healthcare Environmental Resource Center, spent x-ray fixer is a hazardous waste because of its high silver content. The regulatory level is 5 mg/l silver and used fixer typically contains 3,000 to 8,000 mg/l of silver. As such, it cannot be legally dumped in the sewer or disposed of as common solid waste. Another waste found from x-rays are lead foils- The EDA estimates thay 48 million lead foils are disposed of every year in America- coming mostly from dental offices. Its not biodegradable and is thought to be able to remain as long as 2000 years.
Vacuuming Systems Suction systems in dental offices can use as much as 360 gallons of water a year. Even at 180 gallons of water, its a huge amount of water. Though they estimate that the average dental office actually uses about 57,000 gallons of water a year.