RISCO AMBIENTAL E POPULACIONAL PROVOCADO POR RESÍDUOS CONTAMINADOS GERADOS NA ATIVIDADE ODONTOLÓGICA

Abstract

The impact of professional activities on the
environment is nowadays a general concern of society.
Various dentistry activities produce types of waste that
may cause major alterations on the environment and
result in diseases on the population if these materials
are not disposed properly. This study investigates what
kind of clinical waste ends up on the ordinary garbage.
The authors interviewed 166 dentists in Uberlândia,
MG, Brazil, to get to know what are the materials
deposited on the litterbins inside their clinic rooms. The
results show that only 26 (15,7%) of them label the
plastic bags as containers of contaminated waste, 60
(36,2%) put the biological leftovers in the general waste
and 30 (18,1%) deposit with the conventional rubbish
even needles used for anaesthesia injections. The
general conclusion is that, dentistry does generate
contaminating materials, which are dangerous to the
environment and to the population on that specific
living area.

Index Terms – Dentistry, environment, waste.