Dental waste characterization in the city of Ilam in 2014

Background: Dental wastes are one of the environmental issues due to toxic and pathogenic agents such aspathological wastes, pharmaceutical and chemical etc have particular sensitivity. The aim of this study wasto determine the dental waste management and related factors in the city of Ilam.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the studied community was all the sixteen dental clinics in Ilam.Five samples of each clinic per week (Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday) were selected. Thereafter wastesample was manually separated into 36 components and were weighed using a laboratory scale withan accuracy of 0.01 g. Each component was weighed five times and the mean value obtained for eachcomponent was considered. Production per capita was calculated for each person. Data were analyzedusing descriptive statistics, SPSS and Excel software.Results: The per capita percent for infectious waste section was 51%. The average of infectious waste is201.13 g. The per capita percent for chemical, pharmaceutical waste section was 36% with an average of142.48 g. The per capita percent for toxicity section was 13% in the dental clinics with the weighted averageof 48.78 g. According to the results of the checklist, further dental clinics have been poorly managed.Conclusion: According to the presence of various materials and different components with differentcharacteristics in the dental wastes, the optimal management of this type of wastes should be carried outbased on the specific characteristics, which include programs to reduce waste production, segregation,recycle and reuse.

Keywords:

Waste management , dental waste , infectious waste , toxic waste