Environmental Impact
Protecting our environment is of the highest importance to us and is at the very core of how we run our practice. Reducing our environmental impact is an ongoing process. There are a number of steps we have already taken to do this. Obviously there are patient safety and regulatory aspects of our work that we must take into account to keep our standards high before making any changes. There are also a number of environmentally conscious oral health products available to buy at our reception. We have personally selected these for their effectivenes in keeping your mouth and the planet healthy.
Amalgam Free
Dentistry
The Yorkshire Grey, for a long time, has been amalgam free for all patients. The refinement of mercury, one of the metals found in amalgam fillings, is very damaging to our environment. We use a composite filling material that is a mixture of plastic and glass to restore your teeth, this material is also bonded directly to the tooth and has a much more natural appearance.
Energy Reclamation From Clinical Waste
Our surgery waste has very strict regulations surrounding its disposal. Clinical waste (contaminated gloves, cleaning wipes, etc) is handled by Albus Environmental who reclaim energy from their incineration process to heat and power homes. They run a fleet of vehicles that run on biofuel and are based in the South East, so our waste doesn’t have to travel far to be processed. Check out their website here albusenvironmental.com
Local Dental Laboratories
To make crowns, bridges and dentures we use laboratories based solely in Essex (Billericay and Sible Hedingham), this cuts down on the distance your work needs to travel and reduces its carbon footprint. Occasionally very specialised work needs to go further afield (Yorkshire) but we do not send dental work overseas. This also means we know that the work is made to the high standards of UK dental technicians.
Responsible Printing
In our industry it is still necessary to print. We require signed treatment plans and consent forms, and need to give information to people who may not use digital methods to access their information. We use cartridge free tank printers which are able to print up to 11,000 pages on a single tank, reducing the plastic waste from printer cartidges by a vast amount.
Computerisation
We have introduced computer based practice management software to store patient notes and other information. It reduces the need for paper to be used, it also allows us to email treatment plans and invoices so that we can avoid printing these.
Reusable PPE
During the COVID19 pandemic we have managed to reduce the amount of waste from PPE that we generate. We wear Scott Safety FH1 hoods and surgical gowns that are cleaned or laundered on site. These offer a higher level of safety whilst doing treatment and reduce waste. Each mask can be cleaned over 250 times and each gown can be laundered over 100 times.
Digital X-rays
We have introduced digital x-rays into the practice which means we dont need to use environmentally damaging chemicals in the processing of our x-rays. This system also allows us to reduce the dose of radiation you receive when having an x-ray taken.
Reducing Harmful Chemicals
We have a Hypochlorous Acid generator, a machine that produces the same chemical your white blood cells use to kill bacteria, fungi and viruses. It does this using electrolysis of water and salt. It is safe enough to drink (although we wouldn’t recommend it) but a powerful enough oxidisng agent to clean the dental surgery. It reduces transport of disinfectants to the practice, reduces packaging and after 7 days it breaks down again into salt and water. So if any of it gets out into the environment it is safe.
Green Energy
We use Bulb Business Energy as our supplier, which means that 100% of the electricity used at The Yorkshire Grey is from renewable sources and 100% of the gas used is offset making it carbon neutral.
Box Storage
We have changed our protocol for short and medium term storage of clean instruments to using cleanable, lockable boxes which can be used more than once, instead of using disposable plastic pouches. These boxes can also be recycled and are made from recycled plastic meaning they will have a use following their use in the practice. This reduces the amount of plastic waste that we produce that would either end up in landfill or being incinerated.
Glass Rinsing Cups
We provide a borosilicate glass tumbler instead of plastic cup for you to rinse with after your treatment. This type of glass is very tough and can withstand the pressures and temperatures generated by an autoclave. We have moved from plastic to paper to glass and there is now zero waste in this process and can be recycled if they break. While this might sound like a specilist product it can be easily bought in regular shops, ours are made by Duralex.
Promoting Environmentally Friendly Products
There are a lot of environmentally friendly oral health products on the market. We carefully select which ones we stock at our reception desk (usually by trying them on ourselves) and promote ones that will actually help to keep your teeth and mouth healthy.
Bee Friendly Planting
Our flowerbeds and front garden are planted and maintained in a way that is bee friendly to help out these insects that our crucial to our environment. In the hotter months we use the (clean) waste water from our decontamination process to water these plants.
Reusable Aspirator Tips
The end of our suction units have been changed to ones that can be sterilised in our autoclave that runs off 100% renewable energy instead of being thrown away after each use, this reduces the amount of plastic that goes to landfill or incineration.
Increasing Recycling
In our practice you may notice large open recycling bins in the corridors, they can look messy but they are like this to make it easy to recycle during the busy working day in a dental practice. We try to purchase from suppliers that use recyclable packaging.
LED Lighting
Nearly all of the lights in the practice use LED bulbs, including our high power operating lights in the surgeries. LED’s use less energy and last longer than other types of bulb reducing the waste at the end of their lifecycle
Paper Free Appointments
Using tablets that integrate with our practice management software patients can sign medical histories and treatment plans (both legal requirements) eliminating the need to print anything during most appointments.
Reduced waste packaging
We use filling materials that are stored in syringe format that are then decanted into smaller reusable wells for individual patient use, this produces less plastic waste than the single treatment capsules which often also result in increased materials waste.
Zero VOC Paint
Painting in the practice uses Tikkurila Optiva 5 paint which is water based, very durable and contains no VOCs, our painters also use biodegradable consumables such as dust sheets and paintbrushes.
Reusable Air/Water Tips
We use tips for our air and water syringes are metal and can be cleaned and autoclaved instead of the plastic ones that must be disposed of after each patient. These are small things but are used in every appointment, over time this stacks up.
Eco Friendly Furniture
We buy furniture from companies that share our ecological values, such as IKEA, who use a lot of sustainable materials. We also buy office furniture from reconditioners such as CorporateSpec, who take used furniture that would have become waste and give it a second life
Launderable Patient Bibs
Patient bibs are commonplace in dental practices, nearly all of these are disposable and have a plastic backing, ours were custom made by Beloost are able to go through our in house laundry.
Compostable Ziplock Bags
Ziplock bags are used for a lot of things including keeping postoperative packs clean for patients to take home, we use compostable food grade bags that can be put in food waste instead of the plastic ones that are normally used.