Biomedical dental waste management and awareness of waste management policy among private dental practitioners in Mangalore city, India

Abstract

Aim: To assess (1) Awareness towards waste management policy and practices. (2) Approach towards waste management policy and practices. (3) Performance in waste management policy and practices among the private dental practitioners in the city of Mangalore, India. Study Design: A cross sectional study. Study subjects and methods: Ninety six private dental practitioners of Mangalore city responded to the self administered questionnaire on biomedical dental waste disposal. Questionnaire contained seventeen closed end type of questions. The questionnaire was designed in an appropriate way such that the objectives of the study were met. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 15. Results: A survey was conducted among 109 private dental practitioners in the city of Mangalore with a self administered questionnaire out of which 96 responded (88.07%). Overall 97.9% of the practitioners were aware of the waste management policy, 47.9 % were handing over the waste to municipal garbage collectors, 54.2% felt that there was a lack of awareness regarding the existing health care waste management services within the city, 44.8% contacted the certified waste carrier services, 42.7% discarded blood soaked swabs and gauze in specific colour coded plastics during disposal. Conclusion: From the study it was found that a large number of practitioners are aware of the legislation policy but have failed to contact and register their clinic under certified waste management services of the city. Lack of professional training has been a major cause for the same. Hence there is a need to educate the dental practitioners regarding proper practice measures.
Key words: Bio medical waste, private dental practitioners, Dental office waste, self administered questionnaire.