The need to make surgical placement practices more circular for dental implants: results of a life cycle assessment study

There has been growing concern surrounding the environmental impacts of the healthcare sector in recent years. Placing a dental implant is a surgical discipline that uses natural resources and emits pollution, indirectly harming human health. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been increasingly applied in this sector to gain an understanding of the environmental impacts. LCA was used to assess the potential environmental impacts associated with the manufacture and placement of a titanium dental implant. A combination of primary and secondary data were used to inform the life cycle inventory. Implant manufacturing data were sourced from the Brånemark Integration company whilst placement data were collected in the Hospital of Montpellier (France). The LCA was modelled using OpenLCA Software with the EcoInvent 3.5 APOS database, and impacts calculated using the ReCiPe 2016 method. The cradle-to-door life cycle of one implant emits 15 kg CO 2 eq, consuming 340 l of water. Most impacts occur during placement of the implant. This is attributed to the amount of single use products used during the process. For placing one implant weighing 0.5 g, 2.5 kg of waste is thrown away, of which 1.8 kg is plastic. A scenario analysis exploring the potential impacts of instituting recycling found it could potentially reduce impacts by 10%. In addition, the application of reuse results in lower global warming impacts. The application of circular economy principles has the potential to decrease the environmental impacts of a dental implant. However, dental maintenance is associated with fewer impacts, hence prevention is critical. • The manufacture and placement of a titanium dental implant was assessed with LCA • One implant emits 15kg CO 2 eq and consumes 340l of water • The majority of impacts occur during the placement • 2.5kg of waste is thrown away per implant, of which 1.8kg is plastic • Instituting recycling could potential reduce impacts by 10%