Eco-Friendly Dentistry

Practicing Green: How to Win at the Dental Game in an Environmentally Responsible Way.

In this day and age, businesses are expected to be environmentally responsible. But who’s really watching to make sure?

The modern disconnect is that our toilets flush and garbage trucks pick up all our bags of trash. We can maintain a tidy living and working space without being confronted by the heavy burden we might be placing on our environment.

Running a business and respecting the environment were never meant to be mutually exclusive intentions. Yet many small businesses continue turning a blind eye to environmental issues.

Why? Because it's so easy to let good intentions fall by the wayside.

Unlike their big business counterparts, small businesses fly well under the radar.

Dental offices are no exception.

As dentists, we’re considered leaders in our communities. People expect more from us, and rightly so. We should be stewards for good dental health AND for a healthy planet.

There's no reason why we can't achieve both.

Ultimately, the onus falls on the business owner to maintain responsible business practices. That’s not always easy with so many competing demands.

As a Toronto Dentist, I believe that ANY area of neglect in business can come back to haunt you. Running a healthy business requires extreme diligence and vigilance on many fronts, including respect for the environment.

What can you do to protect the environment? This article highlights some of the environmental concerns within dental offices and how to run a practice in an eco-friendly manner.

Here are some thoughts to get you started...

Take responsibility. Ultimately, the onus falls on the owner to maintain responsible business practices. As a Toronto Dentist, I find that's not always easy with so many competing demands. Work with your team on developing eco-friendly processes.

Understand the threats. What can you do to protect the environment? It comes down to stopping any hurtful processes and starting up some helpful ones.

Discover what areas of your practice are potentially hostile to the environment. As a Toronto Dentist, I find the biggest gains in Practicing Green will be in neutralizing those everyday threats.

Dental offices can be a chemical soup of hazardous materials. Chemicals from sterilization and disinfection, chemicals from film development, mercury from old fillings and fluoride from topical rinses entering into the waterlines, just to name a few.

Find a champion. You need someone to help get the ball rolling. You want someone fanatical about environmental issues to spearhead your workplace initiatives. Chances are you already have someone on your willing to fill that role – someone who would love the opportunity to make a positive contribution.

That's the thing about leadership. The best leaders aren't those that know the most or bosses everyone around. The best ones are those that care the most - those willing step up, make positive changes, and see things through.

Find eco-friendly alternatives. You can gain much by upgrading old ways. My Toronto Dentist website has a list of some ways we've made positive changes to be a more eco-friendly dental office.

All these little changes add up. You can make a difference.
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Written by Dr. Joe Bulger
_{Owner & Founder of Royal York Dental}
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