Estimated Carbon Emissions Associated With Dental Treatment For Early Childhood Caries

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the environmental impact of travel and anesthetic gas emissions associated with treating early childhood caries at a single institution. Methods: Outpatient preventive, treatment, and modeled general anesthesia (GA) cases in children 71 months old and younger were included in this retrospective chart review. The main outcomes were kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents (kgCO₂e) for travel- and anesthetic gas-related emissions. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were used. Results: Most subjects had a caries treatment visit (n equals 3,630 out of 5,767), and nine percent of treatment visits (n equals 353 out of 3,630) received nitrous oxide (N₂O), which added 29.4 kgCO₂eto the visit emissions. Children without caries treatment had lower travel-related emissions (median equals 7.5 kgCO₂e; interquartile range [IQR] equals 7.6) than children with caries treatment (median without N₂O equals 8.7 kgCO₂e; IQR equals 18.2; median with N₂O equals 8.4 kgCO₂e; IQR equals 10.3). Modeled GA travel emissions were estimated at 16.4 kgCO₂e (IQR equals 21.9) with between 3.8-12.9 kgCO₂e in anesthetic gas emissions. Total emissions were greatest for N₂O treatment visits (median equals 43.3 kgCO₂e; IQR equals 22.8). Conclusions: Travel-related emissions were greatest for children requiring caries treatment. Minimizing patient travel may reduce environmental impact. Nitrous oxide contributes a significant amount to a dental visit???s environmental impact. Community-focused models of care and applying systematic and practical case selection to reduce excess N₂O emissions could reduce dental care-related carbon emissions.