Sustainability in Dentistry: Assessing knowledge, attitude, and practices of dental practitioners about green dentistry

Objective: Green dentistry is an emerging concept necessary to address the worsening climatic changes. It is essential to compile the existing literature on knowledge, attitude, and practice on green dentistry that can be accomplished by conducting a literature review. The objective of this literature review was to summarize and present the existing knowledge that dentists have regarding green dental practices, their attitude about this shift towards sustainability, and steps that they have taken in their personal practice to adhere towards an eco-friendlier dental approach. Methods: Three months of effective research and review development from March 2022 to June 2022. Design using keywords, a literature search was performed in PubMed, Google scholar and Web of Science databases. A total of 13 articles of 45, fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected, of which two were excluded as these were not in English. Results: Dental practitioners have good knowledge about green dentistry and positive attitudes towards environment conservation, but implementation in their practice is not adequate. Most common themes of knowledge, attitude and practice assessment in green dentistry are amalgam management, radiographic management, infection control, waste management, water, and electricity management. Conclusion: The absence of adequate literature on eco-friendly practices in dentistry makes it difficult to validate the findings of most of these studies. Dental professionals are familiar with environmentally friendly dental practices and have a positive outlook on their role in environmental protection, but its application in practice is far from adequate.