Time to brush mercury off dentistry
The mercury in dentistry needs to be extracted!
A discussion on mercury pollution due to dental procedures has revealed startling facts. The origins of mercury pollution have been traced to the curriculum of government dental colleges and processes in the hospitals itself.
While the rest of the medical institutes and hospitals had to be put under the scanner for the disposal of bio-medical waste by the AP Pollution Control Board, the Indian Dental Association, Deccan Bra-nch, is co-ordinating with the APPCB for a cleaner production and common waste management of effluents from dental clinics.
Stressing the need for green dental clinics, Dr A. Srikanth, secretary, Indian Dental Association, Deccan Branch, said that mercury and other amalgams comprising silver and mercury were being used until recently, but these days barely 5-10 per cent dentists used the same.
Most dentists today preferred the use of dental composites or composite resins, glass ionomers, porcelain etc. for cosmetic and medical reasons, he said.
“However, no matter, how little the production of waste from the dental clinics and ultra-modern dental chairs, it needs to be scientifically managed. For this, we are working in close association with APPCB while chalking out a roadmap with their social scientist W.G. Prasanna Kumar,” said Dr Srikanth.
He added that on behalf of the IDA, he was aiming to set up a cleaner production and common waste management facility in co-ordination with the APPCB itself.
Dr Prasanna Kumar said that with the passage of time and the availability of new options, the emphasis should be on cleaner dentistry, since the same was contributing in a way towards the release of mercury into waste waters.
“Even if someone is coming to collect the dental waste, its disposal needs to be traced,” he said. Dr Prasanna Kumar argued that the basic curriculum of dental colleges in the state trained students with silver amalgams containing mercury.
He said that after verifying the same the APPCB should recommend a change in the curriculum, as this was where mercury originated and was finding its way into dentistry.
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