Investigation on the characteristics and management of dental waste in Urmia, Iran

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the components, composition, generation rate and management of dental waste in Urmia, Iran. Fifteen dental centers including eight general dental offices, five specialist dental offices and two dental clinics were selected and two samples were taken from each office. Then, the wastes were manually separated in 31 components and weighted. The results showed that total dental waste generation in all general dental offices, specialist dental offices and dental clinics were 58.94, 17.92 and 10.22 kg/day, respectively. Domestic, potentially infectious, toxic and chemical and pharmaceutical waste also constituted 35.46, 34.24, 11.83 and 5.56 % of total waste, respectively. Only 11 components including blood-contaminated paper towel, salivacontaminated paper towel, saliva-contaminated cotton, extracted teeth, blood-contaminated gauze, inseparable components, nylon glove, tongue blade, latex glove, saliva ejector and blood-contaminated cotton constituted more than 80 % of total infectious waste generation. There was no management program (waste minimization, separation, reuse and recycling) in the dental offices. Source reduction, separation, reuse and recycling activities should be conducted to decrease the hazards of dental wastes. It is also suggested that each fraction of dental waste should be separately collected and disposed in the accordance with its related criteria.

Characteristics and Factors Associated with Medical Waste Management Behaviour in Private Dental Health Services in Pekanbaru City, Indonesia

“…Based on its types, personal dental health services generated wool or cotton and infectious gauze contaminated with blood and saliva, toxic wastes as dental acrylic gypsum and radioactive material such amalgam as teeth fillings and unplugged amalgam. Based on Kooviland’s study, the most potential infectious waste products are paper towels (gauze) contaminated with blood (3.88 kg), toxic film waste of x-ray blast (2.75 kg) and the most chemical waste is dental printing materials (3.99 kg) [12].…”

Hazardous and industrial waste composition and associated management activities in Caspian industrial park, Iran

“…Waste prevention or minimization should be focused as the priority principle in waste management system (Kim and Long, 2011;López-Delgado and Tayibi, 2012). Manufacturers should reduce generation of hazardous substances and increase use of recycled materials (Koolivand et al, 2014). If a source separation system is to be implemented, containers of different sizes and shapes (one for each category of waste) can be placed at suitable locations.…”

Dental waste characterization in the city of Ilam in 2014

“…An investigation carried out on the characteristics and management of dental wastes in Urmia, Iran, showed that 31 components were manually separated and weighted. The results showed that domestic, potentially infectious, toxic, chemical and pharmaceutical wastes were 35.46%, 34.24%, 11.83% and 5.56%, respectively (32). In dental centers in Esfahan city, the amount of infectious, non-infectious and domestic wastes were obtained as 45.07%, 12.15% and 42.78%, respectively (33).…”