Dental Waste Management and Sustainability Knowledge and Awareness in a New Zealand Oral Health Programme

Background: Previous approaches for reducing dental waste have been focused on increasing the knowledge and awareness of Oral Health (OH) practitioners. For long-term changes, the emphasis should be on the education of OH students, who are the profession's future. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge and awareness levels of dental waste management and sustainability among second- and third-year OH students in New Zealand, and if their knowledge and awareness varied between year groups.

Methods: Second- and third-year students were invited to participate in a questionnaire with demographic and close-ended questions. The responses were analysed using a simple scoring system to see whether students had a 'low', 'moderate' or 'high' level of knowledge.

Results: Eighty-five per cent of participants were confident that they knew the Dental Council of New Zealand's (DCNZ) Infection Prevention and Control Standards. The majority misidentified the DCNZ's definitions of two of the three waste types produced by a dental clinic. Seventy-six per cent of participants correctly identified amalgam as the most toxic material to the environment from a list of four other options. Third-year students exhibited a lower overall knowledge than second-year students, with over 54% scoring a 'low' level.

Conclusion: The research demonstrates that students would benefit from waste management and sustainability education being added to their curriculum at university. Further research could study students from other educational institutions.