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Sustainable dentistry

The current status of sustainability in dentistry: a perspective

British Dental Journal volume 234, page 245 (2023)Cite this article

Key points

  • Dental professionals can play a crucial role in tackling the climate crisis.

  • Carbon impact is not necessarily equal to environmental impact.

  • More primary research is needed into the impacts of dental products and services.

  • The Green Impact in Dentistry toolkit will be available in 2023 for all UK primary care dental services

Appointed in 2020 as the first Welsh Clinical Leadership Fellow in Sustainable Healthcare, Amarantha continues to be a Fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare in Oxford. She has worked on raising awareness concerning nitrous oxide mitigation: she co-authored the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare's Sustainable Dentistry course and contributed to the first textbook, published in 2023, on this subject matter. She is a co-founder of Green Health Wales, a national grassroots initiative looking to tackle healthcare's impact on the planet.

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References

  1. Health Education England. Elearning for healthcare. 2023. Available at https://portal.e-lfh.org.uk/ (accessed December 2022).

  2. Care Quality Commission. Using CQC Data. 2023. Available at https://www.cqc.org.uk/about-us/transparency/using-cqc-data (accessed October 2022).

  3. General Dental Council. Registration Statistical Report 2021. 2022. Available at https://www.gdc-uk.org/docs/default-source/annual-reports/gdc_registration-statistical-report-2021-22-final-accessible.pdf?sfvrsn=78d3f4e_3#:~:text=There%20was%20a%201.2%25%20increase,2020%20to%20121%2C824%20in%202021 (accessed October 2022).

  4. General Medical Council. GMC Data Explorer. 2023. Available at https://www.gmc-uk.org/about/what-we-do-and-why/data-and-research/gmc-data-explorer (accessed October 2022).

  5. Green Impact. Green Impact in Dentistry. 2023. Available at https://greenimpact.nus.org.uk/green-impact-in-dentistry/ (accessed November 2022).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, Oxford, United Kingdom

    Amarantha Fennell-Wells

Authors
  1. Amarantha Fennell-Wells
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Correspondence to Amarantha Fennell-Wells.

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Cite this article

Fennell-Wells, A. The current status of sustainability in dentistry: a perspective. Br Dent J 234, 245 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-023-5566-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-023-5566-6

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