Sustainability and leaking restorations

Sustainability has, rightly, become a much-addressed subject in relation to clinical dentistry, let alone to the world in general. It is something that has interested me for some time – first addressing the topic in 1998, when it wasn't called sustainability, but a ‘green issue’! Therefore, 25 years ago, published on St Patrick's Day (hence the ‘green’ relevance!), I wrote about ‘green’ problems¹ related to amalgam and the handling of its waste, the very poor biodegradability of latex gloves and polyvinylsiloxane (PVS) impression materials, disposable single-use items used in the surgery, bags of dental surgery waste, the paper mountain, and chemicals used in developing radiographs. At that time, I wasn't able to propose any solutions other than changing from amalgam to resin composite, using early digital radiography, and early CAD-CAM as a potential solution for the PVS mountain, and I wrote that the latter techniques might become increasingly competitive in real cost, to match their reduced cost to the environment.