Setting up your independent dental practice takes planning and know-how. Learn from experienced dentists, who advise that setting up a visible, reliable waste disposal system at the dental office can help build the office’s reputation.
While your waste disposal doesn’t rank among the three most common skills of a dentist – the DDS degree, patient care, and diagnosis – it does provide a visible indication of your dedication to patient and staff safety. That representation helps build your reputation as a dentist.
Types of Medical Waste Dentists Create
Dentists create four types of dental waste:
- Amalgam
- Hazardous
- Pharmaceutical
- Sharps
Each waste type traditionally requires a different method of disposal.
Disposing of Dental Amalgam Waste
The American National Standards Institute/American Dental Association (ANSI/ADA) offers a complex legal definition of amalgam waste, including extracted teeth, scrap from dental procedures and exams, trap filters, saliva ejectors, etc. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires the use of amalgam separators with at least 95% removal efficiency. This device protects U.S. water sources from contamination from health waste. After processing in the amalgam separator, the dentist sends amalgam waste to a mercury recycling facility specializing in dental waste.
Pharmaceutical Waste Disposal
According to Envicare, the U.S. houses more than 30,000 prescription dispensaries, and they follow the same rules as dentist’s offices when it comes to pharmaceutical waste. When do medications become waste products? When they expire or a patient refuses them after having accepted them.
Dentists must properly dispose of this waste using an incinerator in a hazardous waste combustor or a take-back program through a pharmaceutical company. In the latter option, the pharmaceutical firm provides mailers, envelopes, and disposal packaging to the dentist, who packages and mails the expired medications back to the firm.
Disposing of Dental Hazardous Waste
The EPA defines hazardous waste as a substance that creates a potential or substantial public health threat or threatens the environment. It must exhibit one of four traits to qualify:
- Corrosive
- Ignitable
- Reactive
- Toxic
Hazardous waste can be a gas, liquid, or solid. The physical state of the gas decides its disposal method. In some cases, it must be solidified or contained by barriers before shipping or transporting it to a hazardous waste facility.
Disposing of Sharps Waste
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines a sharp as an object or device used for lacerating or puncturing the skin. This category of medical waste includes disposable blades and scalpels, hypodermic needles, contaminated glass, and certain plastics. Collect used sharps in a sharps container and dispose of them using a mail-back system. The company Medical Innovations, Inc., developed a sharps waste disposal machine that sits on a dentist’s countertop and serves as the sharps container. Once full, it also serves as the sterilization unit, which uses extreme heat and a hockey puck-shaped piece of plastic to sterilize them and embed them in the plastic. The resulting block of plastic can be safely thrown in the trash. This option proves easier on the finances than most for many dentists.
Making the Most of Your Waste Treatment and Disposal Program
Weave your careful waste handling into your blog and advertising, especially your online advertising. Creating engaging content for readers helps get consumers to spend more on your services. According to High Rock Studios, highly engaged audiences spend 76 times more than others on products and services that they see advertised online. Focus your ads on your services, but mention the things you do at your office to enhance patient safety.
Every U.S. dentist’s office must meet EPA, FDA, and ANSI/ADA waste disposal requirements for all four types of medical waste. Ask your vendors about their mail-back programs and explore your local recycling options. Share with your patients what you do to protect their safety!
Read More:
A Comprehensive Ark7 Review: Is It Worth Your Time?
Leave a Reply