Career pathways: Implants

The global burden of plastics in oral health: prospects for circularity, sustainable materials development and practice

“…The magnitude of the consumption can be illustrated with the pre-pandemic data from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC, United Kingdom) that distributed monthly 10–15 million aprons units, 40–45 thousand eye protection units, 1–2 million face masks and 145–150 million gloves. 44,45 While reusing and reducing the consumption of plastics may be possible to some extent (such as in the case of unnecessary packaging), the need for keeping high-standards of infection control and maintaining hygienic practices to prevent cross-contamination makes the reduction in consumption largely impractical, especially concerning PPE. To compound the challenge further, the diversity of synthetic polymers with different properties suited for various dental applications, as aforementioned, makes providing a one-size-fits-all solution for the current unsustainable plastic usage in dentistry extremely challenging.…”