Eco-Dentistry Association Launches

The Eco-Dentistry Association, an international association of dental professionals, recently launched which means greener teeth – well white teeth, but greener, more responsible dental care, which rocks. The association, created by the by the same folks who opened the country’s first green dental office, is a way that dental colleagues can gain access to eco-friendly practices and consumers can find the resources they need to encourage their own dental care providers to go green.

According to the association…

• “If every U.S. dental office installed a device capturing mercury-containing waste, at least 7,400 pounds of toxic waste would be kept out of the nation’s water supplies each year.
• By switching to reusable and nontoxic disinfection methods, the dental industry would prevent 680 million disposable chair barriers, light handle covers and patient bibs, and 1.7 billion instrument sterilization pouches from ending up in landfills yearly.”

The Eco-Dentistry Association offers advice for dental professionals such as…

• Practical tips on reducing waste and pollution and conserving resources.
• Ideas for energy efficient lighting.
• How to safely dispose of mercury-containing dental waste.
• How to put eco-friendly building and office policies into place such as nontoxic paint and recycled copy paper.

The association also provides the public with some killer information about green dentistry. I found out a lot of stuff I never knew while browsing their site. Some cool things…

• How digital X-ray systems reduce radiation exposure by up to 90%.
• Dental appliances that are free from bisphenol-A.
• Why to avoid some toxic toothpastes and mouthwash.
• Questions to ask their dentists about environmental stewardship and a letter that you can print out for your dentist to inform him or her about green dental care.
• Help for finding an eco-minded provider.
• And more.

The Eco-Dentistry Association website is really informative and well worth a visit.

[image via stock.xchng]