Environmental Impact of a Tooth Extraction: Life Cycle Analysis in a University Hospital Setting.

IF 1.8 3区医学 Q2 DENTISTRY, ORAL SURGERY & MEDICINE

Community dentistry and oral epidemiology Pub Date : 2025-06-27 DOI:10.1111/cdoe.70003

Paul Künzle, Ariadne Charis Frank, Sebastian Paris

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives: The global impact of health care on the human environmental burden is enormous, but medical care is currently not realising the potential of sustainable practice. Similarly, dentistry and the various forms of dental treatment are not provided in a sustainable manner. This study focussed on quantifying the environmental burden of a standard dental treatment, specifically a tooth extraction, and on identifying the environmental impact of the process.

Methods: A life cycle analysis was performed, simulating the entire process of a tooth extraction-including patient and staff travel, materials and washing/sterilisation procedures-using the software OpenLCA 1.11.0 and the database ecoinvent 3.9.1. The facilities, instruments and items used were those of Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. For travel impact estimations, questionnaire data on travel modalities were gathered from patients and clinic staff. To evaluate possible approaches for more environmentally friendly processes, a change of the information/consent meeting from face-to-face to an online meeting was simulated.

Results: The greatest single contributors to the environmental impact of an extraction procedure were travel, the production of steam (e.g., for sterilisation), electricity, soap, and waste. After normalisation, the process impact was highest on the categories: human toxicity (cancer effects and non-cancer effects), freshwater ecotoxicity, resource use (energy carriers) and ionising radiation (human health). The total environmental impact was 13.8 kg CO₂ equivalents, which compares to driving a distance of 56.3 km with a gasoline-powered vehicle. The implementation of a digital consent process could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 36.1% to 8.8 kg CO₂ equivalents.

Conclusions: Modelling the environmental impact of a dental extraction in a university hospital setting provided a detailed account of absolute and relative environmental impact contributions. The reduction of treatment-related travel is the most effective measure to reduce the environmental impact of dental practice.

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拔牙对环境的影响：大学医院环境的生命周期分析。

目标：医疗保健对人类环境负担的全球影响是巨大的，但医疗保健目前没有实现可持续实践的潜力。同样，牙科和各种形式的牙科治疗也不能以可持续的方式提供。本研究的重点是量化标准牙科治疗的环境负担，特别是拔牙，并确定该过程对环境的影响。方法：使用OpenLCA 1.11.0软件和ecoinvent 3.9.1数据库进行生命周期分析，模拟拔牙的整个过程，包括患者和工作人员的旅行、材料和清洗/消毒程序。所使用的设施、仪器和物品均为柏林慈善基金会（charity - Universitätsmedizin）的。为了估计旅行影响，从患者和诊所工作人员收集了关于旅行方式的问卷数据。为了评估更环保流程的可能方法，模拟了将信息/同意会议从面对面改为在线会议的情况。结果：提取过程对环境影响的最大单一贡献者是旅行，蒸汽的产生（例如，用于灭菌），电力，肥皂和废物。正常化后，该过程对以下类别的影响最大：人类毒性（癌症影响和非癌症影响）、淡水生态毒性、资源利用（能量载体）和电离辐射（人类健康）。总环境影响为13.8千克二氧化碳当量，相比之下，汽油动力汽车行驶了56.3公里。实施数字同意程序可以减少36.1%的温室气体排放，达到8.8千克二氧化碳当量。结论：在大学医院设置拔牙对环境的影响建模提供了绝对和相对环境影响贡献的详细说明。减少与治疗有关的旅行是减少牙科治疗对环境影响的最有效措施。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Community dentistry and oral epidemiology 医学-公共卫生、环境卫生与职业卫生

CiteScore

4.40

自引率

8.70%

发文量

审稿时长

6 months

期刊介绍： The aim of Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology is to serve as a forum for scientifically based information in community dentistry, with the intention of continually expanding the knowledge base in the field. The scope is therefore broad, ranging from original studies in epidemiology, behavioral sciences related to dentistry, and health services research through to methodological reports in program planning, implementation and evaluation. Reports dealing with people of all age groups are welcome. The journal encourages manuscripts which present methodologically detailed scientific research findings from original data collection or analysis of existing databases. Preference is given to new findings. Confirmations of previous findings can be of value, but the journal seeks to avoid needless repetition. It also encourages thoughtful, provocative commentaries on subjects ranging from research methods to public policies. Purely descriptive reports are not encouraged, nor are behavioral science reports with only marginal application to dentistry. The journal is published bimonthly.