Ashley, Paul;
Duane, Brett;
Johnstone, Mark;
Lyne, Alexandra;
(2022)
The environmental impact of community caries prevention - part 2: toothbrushing programmes.
British Dental Journal
, 233
(4)
pp. 295-302.
10.1038/s41415-022-4905-3.
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Abstract
Introduction Community-level caries prevention programmes includes supervised toothbrushing in schools and the provision of toothbrushes and toothpaste. The environmental impact of these interventions is an important factor to consider when commissioning these services.Materials and methods A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to quantify the environmental impact of a five-year-old child receiving one of two toothbrushing programmes over a one-year period; supervised toothbrushing in school, or the provision of toothbrushes and toothpaste.Results Supervised toothbrushing had a lower environmental impact than provision of toothbrushes and toothpaste in all 16 impact categories measured. The water use needed for children to brush their teeth was the greatest contributing factor to the provision of toothbrushes and toothpaste, accounting for an average of 48.65% of the impact results.Discussion All community-level caries prevention programmes have an associated environmental cost. LCA is one way to quantify the environmental impact of healthcare services and can be used along with cost and clinical effectives data to inform public healthcare policy. Organisations responsible for these programmes could use the results of this study to consider ways to reduce the environmental impact of their services.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The environmental impact of community caries prevention - part 2: toothbrushing programmes |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41415-022-4905-3 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-022-4905-3 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0.© The Author(s) 2022 |
| Keywords: | Child, Preschool, Dental Caries, Dental Caries Susceptibility, Environment, Humans, Toothbrushing, Toothpastes |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Eastman Dental Institute > EDI Craniofacial and Development Sci UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Eastman Dental Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10155220 |
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