Dr. Christophe Bedos, a full professor in the Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences at McGill University, shares the story behind his efforts to make the university’s dental faculty one of the world’s first fully sustainable dental faculties. He explains why this initiative is more critical than ever, especially when considering the next generation and their chance to inherit a cleaner world.
Key moments
- 2:00 Starting the journey without knowing where to begin, eventually finding experts in Europe.
- 7:46 Canada lacks data on CO₂ emissions from the dental sector.
- 9:52 Citing a UK study: procurement, second only to transportation, is the main contributor to dental sector CO₂ emissions.
- 12:01 Clinics don’t know how to curb emissions and shouldn’t be blamed.
- 14:31 Governments must take the lead in driving change.
- 18:30 What about the next generation? A professor reflects on his own son’s future.
- 22:34 Professionals from the U.S., Australia, and France feel “isolated.”
- 24:46 On developing a free carbon calculator for dental clinics.
Read the audio transcript below:
Dr. Luisa Schuldt (LS): Hi everyone. Welcome to Brush Up, presented by Oral Health Group, the dental podcast where we speak with industry experts to discuss topics like technology, finance and practice management. I’m your host, Dr. Luisa Schuldt, periodontist and prosthodontist based in Fonthill, Ontario. In this episode, we’ll be discussing why and how we can decarbonize dentistry.
Joining us is Dr. Christophe Bedos, a dentist with a PhD in public health. He is a full professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Oral Sciences at McGill University. In October, Dr. Bedos announced a groundbreaking project that he is leading to make McGill’s faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences one of the first fully sustainable dental faculties in the world, supported by McGill sustainability project funds with $54,500. The initiative begins by calculating the carbon footprint of all faculty operations, including several clinics that serve the public. The project measures carbon emissions from every aspect of dental care, from dentists’ latex gloves to patients’ commutes. Its aim is not only to inspire global reflection and engage the broader dental community on climate change, but also to drive policy changes for more sustainable practices. Welcome, Dr. Bedos, thank you for joining us today.
During your announcement in October, you mentioned that you wanted to spark a global reflection, and you wanted to share findings and engage with the broader dental community to identify targets that we can all set to deal real, sustainable change. What personally and professionally inspired you for this call to action?
Dr. Christophe Bedos (CB): I have to confess that four years ago, I didn’t know anything about this subject, so it’s new to me, in a way, and I would not consider myself as an expert. I was at that time, four years ago, and I’m still the director of a research network, a Quebec based research network. We have about 100 researchers from genetics to public health. This network focuses a bit on oral health and bone research. We are subsidized by the government of Quebec, and four years ago, the government said, well, you need to reinvent your networks. You need to do things differently. You need to rethink the covenants, the strategic priorities, your programs, and there are around 20 networks like this. At that time, there were 20 networks like this. So, then I started reflecting about what the government wanted, and they put their emphasis on addressing major social challenges of our time, or challenges in general for the society. So, then I started thinking, what are the main challenges of our time? We know about inequalities, access to care. The population is aging, and that was the pandemic at that time. And then climate change just popped up. I mean, I think we are all now aware of the challenges that we’re facing as, in humanity, the planet, right? So, I started to read a lot during the pandemics, watch webinars, listen to podcasts like this. And then I started to think, well, maybe we need to do something. We need to work on that. And we need to address those issues in a sectoral way. I mean, all of us, all sectors of society, need to work on the subject; not just one, not separately, not easily, in an isolated way. Then I started to look for experts, and in the dental field, I couldn’t find any expert in Quebec, so I looked for the rest of Canada, and basically, I found experts in Europe, not that many. Actually, it’s a new field. It’s a beginning field. So that’s the way I started to become little by little more, I would say, aware of the situation, and I’ve been learning tremendously. That’s this thing. I feel that I have done a Masters in the last four years by myself in my house, or watching and reading and developing projects, as you mentioned yourself. I mean, I started, I made a team. I started developing projects, I submitted applications, and I obtained funding, funding for several projects, including the one you mentioned, which is to make our faculty sustainable.
LS: So, it sounds like it’s quite important for all industries, not just dental, to try to decarbonize and think more of our planet and the environment. How essential is it for dentistry itself to do this? How big is the dental impact?
CB: I mean, you’re right to mention that all fields of the society need to decarbonize. And actually, Canada committed to reduce its carbon emissions by a lot. A very big reduction is planned for year 2030, I think, based on the Paris Agreement. I don’t know if you ever heard about the Paris Agreement in 2015 that was signed, ratified by Canada, and by basically all countries in the world. So we are committed to reducing our carbon emissions as a society. And of course, the dentistry, like all of our sectors, has to do its part. The Federal International Dental Federation emphasized on the importance for the dental field to reduce its carbon emission. So, yes, we need to do it in the healthcare sector in general, as to reduce its carbon emission. In Canada, I think the part of the healthcare system is around 5%of the carbon emissions in our society are related to the dental care, the oral health care system, in general. So dental care is a part of that, but we need to do our part.
LS: What opportunities or challenges do you foresee for the dental industry in making some of these changes that can have such an important impact?
CB: The first I would say, is about how do we do it, right? What should we do? Where do we start? And that’s the question I asked myself not that long ago. So how should we start? What do we need to do? How can we reduce the carbon emissions? And first of all, what are our carbon emissions? How much do you produce carbon, greenhouse gasses, right? And there is one study that was done in the UK. Some of the people who listen to us may know him, because I think he was invited a couple of years ago to the Ontario Dental Association to do a presentation or workshop or one day workshop.
So, but basically, we don’t have data in Canada about the carbon emissions of the dental care system. So, what Brett Duane showed in England is that the main source of carbon emissions related to dental care is transportation. Transportation of the staff, transportation of the patients, around 1/3 for each part. So, two thirds of the carbon emissions are related to transportation, which gives you an idea of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions related to dentistry, considering that actually, we think, and most people think, that waste plastic is the most important thing, and actually it’s, according to by doing study, it’s just a tiny part. Plastic is a tiny part of the problem. I’m not saying that it is a minor issue, though. We agree on that. I mean, we know that plastic is everywhere. I don’t know, there are one 10 billion tons of plastic in the oceans, right? There is a continent of plastic between Japan and Alaska the size of Quebec. So, we know that plastics are huge issues. We basically drink and eat plastic every day in our food, because there are micro plastics everywhere. So, we need to reduce the conception of plastic. We need to do better. But the transportation is even much better than that. So, it gives you an idea of the amount of pollution that we as, I mean, I would say the Western civilization, we pollute a lot.
LS: Compared to some of these other known to be really high emission sectors, like steel or I think production of food is also kind of been a culprit when we talk about carbon emissions, are there other areas in the dental sector that we would have other opportunities for? How urgent can we make these changes?
CB: We look at the study that was done in the UK, and we’ll see at McGill, I mean, because we will do the same study at McGill, so we’ll soon know. And maybe you invite me, and I will share with you the findings about us and our faculty. But according to Brett Duane, the procurement purchase of equipment was equivalent of around 19 or 20% of the carbon emissions. And then you add electricity and gas consumption, so when you want to in winter, we need to be warm in our dental offices, so we need to use the electricity, etc. And I would say, then you add waste. Waste was less than 1% according to Brett Duane. So basically, the equipment, the equipment we buy, the frequency with which we renew our equipment, the frequency of our purchases, if we order something every day. So that means that a truck will come to our door and bring something. So, if it’s a small package, the transportation maybe, maybe we could regroup things right, instead of purchasing all the time, maybe we can do bulk purchasing, things like that. So yes, procurement is also an important issue and where the products come from. If you order something that comes from China, of course, the carbon impact will be high. If it is produced in Ontario, in Toronto, well, maybe the carbon emissions will be less important.
LS: Thinking about the people that come in, sometimes to do maintenance work as well, and their transportation is another factor. What practical steps do you think dentists can start making now to have a more sustainable practice?
CB: I would say the first thing that they can do is ask to be trained. Because they cannot invent things. We cannot ask people just suddenly to say, okay, I’m gonna do better. Of course, I think many people in many clinics are sensitive, but they don’t know what to do. How do we reduce our carbon emissions? What is useful? What is less useful? What can we do better? Does it increase the cost of the functioning of the clinic? Do we need to invest? So, clinics may need some help as well if there is a decision to decarbonize. Maybe clinics will need some support. And the first support is training, and we need to develop training. And actually, at McGill, we are developing online training, three hours. It’s going to be in French and English, is going to be free. So, we don’t want to make money with that. So maybe in one year, it’s going to be free. So, I will invite people to take this, to follow this training, if they want to. And we’ll try to develop more advanced training, maybe on site in dental clinics. I think we could have teams of trainers coming into the clinics and showing how the clinics and all the staff in the clinic. Because it’s not just one person in the clinic, it’s the dental hygienist, the dental assistant, the front desk personnel. It’s also informing the patient. It’s also informing the companies that provide us with equipment and material. It’s a global approach. It’s a global partnership. But yes, the first thing would be the dentist should and the dental workforce should be trained better. They could ask the government to support also the development of free training.
LS: It sounds like the first step when we have a problem is recognizing the problem, which you clearly and I think worldwide, many people have recognized that this problem exists. And then, yeah, learning more as your studies seem to want to do, learning more about where that problem lies, and then understanding how we can change what we do on a day-to-day basis at all levels. Schools, practices, dental industry. How we can all come together and do our part. But it sounds like we also need to drive our government to make some policy changes and other things that can help at a national global level.
CB: I think that’s essential. I think it is essential that we work at the global level. I think the governments need to take the lead somehow. And if they don’t take some leadership, we need to push them towards that. We should not put all the responsibility on the shoulders of individuals. Small eco practices at home, etc., are good, but let’s not put the blame on the citizens. Yes, let’s not put the blame on dental professionals. Of course, everyone needs to be involved, but upstream, I mean, upstream approaches are imperative. I would say we cannot change society without strong policies, directions and support for those who will make the change.
LS: I remember as a kid being taught, you know, don’t waste the water, turn off the light when you leave the room. And I think these are things we keep on doing, but what we do, things like this as individuals, is just not enough anymore. To come together as a society, as a dental community, and work together to have bigger goals.
CB: Absolutely, and I would say dental organizations, professional organizations, in my opinion, should be highly involved. They should be leaders. They should promote change at all levels and should put pressure also on the government to go faster. And I’m afraid to say that, according to Paris agreement, it’s ambitious in some ways, but if we want to succeed, we need to act right now, and we need to do better. We need to do much better at the level of the society. At the moment, our carbon emissions are not decreasing enough. Really, our carbon emissions as a society decrease during the pandemic, but they should decrease in the same way for the next decade. So, we need to really, really act vigorously and do things that may be difficult. I mean, decisions will be painful, sometimes, right, and all of us will need to reflect upon the way we live and the way we consider the planet.
LS: Not making these changes will be more painful in the long run. It’s a momentary pain to adapt to the changes.
CB: I would say, I think, I mean at the end, I think it’s important to reflect upon us as a society, the fact that we have been using the resources of the planet in a way that is, I would say, incredible in some ways. Because, for instance, let’s see oil. Oil has been discovered not that long ago, right? I would say one century ago. That’s when we started using oil. And then in basically one century, we have used more than half of the reserve of oil in the planet, and it has allowed us to do so many things. To grow, to have so many of our clothes, right? Our clothes, our cars, our houses, but then we have been depleting the planet from that. What about the next generations? In one century, there won’t be oil anymore. How come we accept that? How come? I mean, I’ve reached an age where I think about my son, he’s twenty. What will be my legacy to him? I want to give him more, much more than what I received from my parents. That was my goal, and I think I may succeed in that. But then I just realized a couple of months ago that actually he will, inherit a planet that is in such a poor state. And if I had to compare my situation in this situation, I think I was much more privileged than he will be, because when I was born in the 1960s, the planet was in a much better state. The pollution was much less. And we will give a planet that is in a poor state, and we have been depleting the resources, we have been using all. But now it’s rare metals for the green transition. And the question is, can we slow down? Can we slow down a little bit with this, in some ways, predatory approach towards the planet? We are predators. We’re just taking all the resources, as if the next generation will not need those resources, and we expect the next generations to be smart enough to invent strategies to find out ways to manage without those resources.
CB: And I think that we are all citizens, we are professionals, but we are also citizens. We are parents most of the time. We may be grandparents. So, what will happen to the kids of our kids and the kids of our grandkids, what will happen to them? And I think we need to think about it right now, because what we do now will have an impact in the future. When we emit CO2, carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere, the CO2 we emit now will stay in the atmosphere for around a century. So, what we do now has an impact on our grand, grand, grand grandkids. So, I think we need to keep this in mind, and overall, we’re all together on the planet. We need to work together, and we need to really accept, to criticize ourselves. I mean, as I said in the beginning, four years ago, I was, in a way, I think I was blind, but okay. I mean, I think it’s never too late, but I don’t understand why I didn’t see things like that. Now I have a way. I mean, it changed me as a citizen, myself, as a human being. I’m different and I’m facing challenges and guilt. I must say, in many ways, it’s not easy to be self-critical, to reflect on what we, what I have done, but at least let’s do something now. Let’s work for us, but also for the next generation. Let’s try to make the planet good for them.
LS: You’re mentioning as you were learning about sustainability worldwide and wanting to enrich yourself with that knowledge, that you didn’t really find any experts in America, that you reached out to Europe and other countries. The UK, Sweden, Germany, they’ve already been making some changes, investing in research. You’re mentioning this other dental clinician that even came to Ontario and gave a lecture a few years ago. Where are we in Canada? What have we done so far? Is there anything they are doing that we can easily implement?
CB: I would say they are more advanced a little bit in the training, but not that much. Not that much. I have been contacted by people in the US, Australia, even France, saying, well, we would like to work with you, because we are we are isolated. We are starting with that knowledge. So, I would say that they are not that advanced. So much needs to be done. And I am the co-director of this Quebec Research Network. And we will put money as a funding agency. We will put money on developing teams that work on sustainable dentistry. I think research is important to develop new approaches, new materials, to evaluate those approaches, to see if they work well, also to promote the implementation and your approaches. But they are not that advanced. I would say that they have been maybe more sensitive earlier than us. They started developing knowledge earlier than us. Brett Duane, for instance, in the UK, is more advanced in terms of knowledge, but is somehow isolated because it’s a new field. That’s why I think we all need to work together and share the information. We need to share the knowledge, our expertise. And actually, I invited Brett to my research project, so we submitted grant applications. He is one of my core co researchers. And there are organizations at the other level of Canada for the healthcare system. I would say dentists are not necessarily well advanced compared to physicians, but I think we are all at the beginning. Lots need to be done, but I think things can go faster, as when we start grouping or regrouping. So, for instance, I am currently with the French, with French people, for instance, I’m currently developing a carbon calculator for dental clinics. So we are putting this into function. Hopefully we will have it ready within a couple of months, maybe weeks, who knows. So, it will be free also to use for the clinics, just to see how much carbon emissions they produce. But again, we need to have training. We need to give support to the clinics to be able to implement things. And we need to work with the industry as well to develop products that are sustainable, right? So that means partnership, also with the industry. So, all together, we need to work on that.
LS: Thank you so much for your time, Christophe, this has been a really enriching conversation for me, and I hope for the same for our listeners. Thank you to our listeners for joining us today. Thank you so much for listening. Be sure to sign up for Brush Up podcast alerts or subscribe on Spotify and YouTube to be notified every time we post a new episode. Keep brushing up!