Sustainability

For us at The Natural Smile being sustainable is built into who we are. It’s second nature and is interwoven into everything that we do. From the way we look at dental treatment, to what we eat, to every purchase we make. It’s not an easy road to take in the modern world, where seemingly everything has been set up to be as disposable and convenient as possible.

Care for the environment is a huge priority for us all at The Natural Smile and we aim to minimise our impact on this wonderful planet wherever possible, without compromise.

We are living on this planet as if we had another one to go to – Terri Swearingen

Prevent

Let’s start by you not needing to see us!

  • If we can prevent you from needing dental treatment, we immediately reduce the resources that you will use to get to us, and that we will use to treat you. We ensure that we give our patients the best preventative recommendations; be it taking responsibility of your oral health at home, helping with diet, relaxation and lifestyle tips all with a focus on whole body health.
  • If we do need to treat you, we will use Biocompatible materials that not only produce excellent aesthetics, but their biocompatibility ensures that they integrate with the body. In the case of Biodentine, it can promote the healing of damaged tissue which in turn then reduces the amount of future treatment needed for patients.

Travel

  • We promote cycling and walking and the use of public transport for patients and staff.
  • We use zoom/ video calls for some reviews or discussions with patients and virtual team meetings.
  • We have bike racks at the front of the practice.
  • We recommend combined appointments, book families in together and reduce the overall number of treatment appointments needed by combining treatments into less appointments.
  • We measure how our patients and staff travel to us to give us and idea of the most used modes of transport.

Equipment and supplies

  • When trying to purchase new dental equipment we send a questionnaire to the manufacturers asking how they make their products and how sustainable it is.
  • When it comes to non-dental equipment, we subscribe to the ethical consumer to help guide us to the best purchases that support local producers of high-quality goods.

Energy

  • 100% of the electricity that we use at The Natural Smile is from renewable sources.
  • We only use LED lighting in the practice which cuts energy consumption.
  • We have a switch off policy and both surgeries are switched off completely when not in use.

Waste

  • We are following with interest professor Tony Ryan’s work at the University of Sheffield on minimizing single use plastics in dentistry.
  • We have fully washable reusable PPE.
  • We have a range of plastic free oral hygiene products and are actively pursuing companies to make recyclable versions of the ones we love.
  • For those products that are made of plastic we have a TerraCycle recycling box for oral health products for our staff and patients to use.

Measuring

  • We are record our waste and staff travel types to map trends and improve. We are committed tocarrying out an annual review of our statement and continually improve environmental systems.

Recruitment

  • In every interview and every job advert we specify that we are looking for the candidates to be part of our culture, and a key part of that culture is sustainability.

Team members are expected to co-operate in the commitments to our sustainability statement