Policy Statement 6.21 - Dentistry and Environmental Sustainability

1. Position Summary

The environmental impact of dental care delivery should be minimised without adversely affecting the safety and quality of dental treatment. The Australian Dental Association supports and promotes environmentally sustainable practices and the responsible delivery of dental services.

2. Position

2.1 The environmental impact of dental care delivery should be minimised.

2.2 The ADA and its Branches should ensure their facilities and activities are environmentally responsible.

2.3 Dental practices should be supported to be environmentally responsible and engage in continuous improvements to ensure environmental best practice (see ADA Guidelines for Sustainable Dental Practices).

2.4 Environmental regulation must have demonstrably clear benefits, be evidence-based and cost-effective.

2.5 Sustainability measures must not adversely affect the safety and quality of dental treatment.

2.6 The ADA works with other stakeholders to improve the sustainability of dental care delivery.

2.7 The dental sector should develop and adopt a Dental Sustainability Charter, led by the ADA, to support environmentally sustainable practice.

3. Background

3.1 In 1987, the United Nations Brundtland Commission defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

3.2 Climate change, environmental concerns and sustainability are important issues in Australia and are recognised as aspects of a wider commitment to socially responsible behaviour.

3.3 The environment directly impacts human health and wellbeing.

3.4 Sustainability is a continuous process.

3.5 Sustainability in dentistry is multifaceted and involves many stakeholders including manufacturers, distributors, dental equipment technicians, dentists and staff, patients, waste collectors and processors.

3.6 The practice of dentistry in Australia requires maintenance of high levels of quality and safety which includes:
• infection prevention and control, including utilisation of single-use materials, where indicated;
• energy and water consumption;
• a complex set of waste management arrangements; and
• the management of chemicals which may constitute a hazard in the delivery, application or waste management in dentistry.

3.7 Most dental equipment and materials are manufactured outside Australia and so incur significant
carbon emissions related to transportation.

3.8 The Minamata Convention on Mercury (a multilateral environmental agreement that addresses the
adverse environmental effects of mercury) was signed by the Australian Government on 10 October 2013. The Australian Government ratified the Minamata Convention on 7 December 2021. Effective 1 January 2035, the Convention bans the manufacture and trade of mercury-added
dental amalgam at the global level.

4. Definition

4.1 SUSTAINABILITY is maintaining or improving the quality of human life while living within the
carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems.

5. Last review

August 2026

6. Next review due

August 2031