Exploring attitudes and knowledge of climate change and sustainability in a dental practice: A feasibility study into resource management

Objective To understand the attitudes and behaviour of staff in dental practice towards adopting a reduce, reuse, recycle approach to resource management Design The qualitative aspects of a mixed methods study Setting The site for the study was a mixed NHS / private dental practice in North Devon. Subjects All disciplines from one dental practice Interventions (1) A practice scoping exercise – provided context and identified an interview sample (2) Qualitative interviews with practice staff –to assess current knowledge in the practice and opportunities and limitations in relation to procurement and the management of resources Results Staff concerns centred around the amount of waste generated but recognised that this was in response to strict infection control guidelines. There was a strong desire to implement changes but deep concerns were expressed about the impact of challenging current guidance Conclusions Primary Care Dentistry provides both surgical and non-surgical care to more than half the UK population. Therefore lessons learned from General Dental Practice can encourage positive change. More research is needed across dental practice in order to generalise these findings.