W.A.T.E.R
In the spring of 2007 WVE formed a multi-stakeholder working group in Missoula, Montana to reduce mercury amalgam waste from dental offices. The working group consists of local dentists, the pretreatment coordinator at the Missoula wastewater treatment plant, personnel from the Missoula City-County Health Department’s water quality division, and WVE staff.
With strong support from the Montana Dental Association (MDA), the dental working group developed W.A.T.E.R. with the expectation that the program will be expanded statewide. The group has also held a training session for dental office staff on how to follow best management practices, presented information about dental offices and mercury pollution at local dental society meetings, and coordinated discounts on amalgam separators.
Montana W.A.T.E.R Program
The W.A.T.E.R program is designed to reward dental offices who follow the American Dental Association’s best management practices for mercury amalgam waste. Dental offices who participate in the program and install an amalgam separator will receive a decal noting that their practice is committed to environmentally responsible dentistry. Look for the decal in your dentist’s office window. If your dental office does not have a decal displayed, ask her or him to participate in the program.
The WATER program launched in Missoula in March 2008 and will be expanded to cities throughout Montana by fall of 2008. Click here to find out if your dentist is participating.
Why W.A.T.E.R?
In the spring of 2006, WVE worked with the Missoula Wastewater Treatment Plant to conduct a survey of dental offices in Missoula to determine how they were managing their mercury waste. The results showed that most dentists were improperly disposing of their mercury waste.
- 66% of respondents are not following the ADA’s BMPs for mercury waste in chair side traps. 29% of those surveyed responded that they disposed of waste in the trash, 3% said they washed it down the sink, and 24% put waste in biohazard containers.
- 65% of respondents are not following the ADA’s BMPs for mercury waste in vacuum filters or other secondary filters. 26% disposed of waste caught in filters in biohazard containers, 17% put trapped waste in the garbage, 13% washed the waste down the sink and 9% placed the waste in a hazardous waste container.
- 92% of respondents are not following the ADA’s BMPs for extracted teeth with mercury amalgam fillings. 79% dispose of mercury-containing extracted teeth in biohazard containers and 13% throw extracted amalgam containing teeth in the trash. The American Dental Association’s best management practices states extracted teeth should be recycled and not disposed of in biohazard, sharps or infectious waste containers, or in the garbage.
- 83% of respondents are not following the ADA’s BMPs for non-contact mixing scrap. 50% dispose of the waste in the trash and 33% dispose of it in the bio-hazard.
Read more about the survey results and the work of the Missoula Working Group in the August/September issue of the Montana Dental Association newsletter.
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Additional Resources
Download WVE's fact sheet: Dental Mercury and the Environment
Return to the main Mercury and Reproductive Justice campaign page
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