Summary

In the EU? Well, it’s important to work towards the New Green Deal and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We explain the relevance for your practice, including how to tackle it from a sustainability lens. We offer two simple ways to be compliant and use is to your practice’s strategic moat: the sustainability angle. And if you’re EU-based, Dentlee Cups can be purchased for your practice.

Plastic cups are so 1980.

You read that right: the case for plastic cups is here and if you’re still using them, even in COVID-19 times, it’s time to evolve. There are three key reasons that make common sense:

People

The wrong status quo: “But patients can’t have a better experience just from the cup we use.”

We exist to serve our local communities’ dental and oral health. What image do we send if our patients (subconsciously) take the guilt of one-time-use plastic cups during their treatments, especially prophylaxis? Yes, COVID-19 means we put safety at upmost importance; however, this can be done with alternatives. Additionally, we strive to brighten each patient’s day. Some come in with fear, others anxiety; however, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Planet

The wrong status quo: “But everyone is using plastic single-use cups.”

Firstly, we strive to consciously use more environmentally-friendly materials, reduce plastics, and reuse in circular loops whenever possible. When we used to use single-use, virgin plastic cups, we used on average 1.5 cups per patient visit. This virgin plastic waste added up so fast. And with our demand to put patient and employee safety first in these COVID-19 times, we knew we had to look for alternative materials that are regionally produced and sourced in the EU. When we challenge this opportunity hidden in plain sight, we found possibilities to do good to our planet.

Secondly, we comply to our legislation. The upcoming EU’s Single Use Plastic Directive (SUPD) triggered a “Wait, what?”-moment for us. It will require new packaging labelling for all types of disposable cups, even plastic-free. This sparked a reflection on our side: why are we even using single-use plastic cups? This legislation will add labels to something we never critically thought about - do we even need plastic cups? No, because we aim to work towards the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (#UNSDG) 12 and 14.

Profit - Plastic is cheap

The wrong status quo: “But we’ve always used single-use plastic cups… and they’re cheapest.”

We used to buy virgin plastic cups from our dental suppliers because it was (i) what we always had done and (ii) a very cost-effective option. But when we looked at how small these costs per patient visit were versus the environmental impact and lost patient experience improvement, we were shocked. This status quo is so outdated we knew we had to put the puzzle pieces together and show how we can create a better solution.

The Better Solutions

Our formula for success

+ Increase Patient Experience
+ Increase recyclate and regenerative materials
+/- Maintain profit margin
___________________________________
= Two Solutions

Recall, we believe each change we make in our dental practice must be net-positive for at least one lens we use for sustainability, people / planet / profit.

Solution 1 - Recycled Cups

After searching over 15 European suppliers, we found a supplier that offered mixed paper-based material (recycled + virgin) as well as bio-degradable. No resins, simply the essential materials. And when we analyzed its supply chain, we felt very comfortable with the raw and recycled materials coming from our region, the EU. This was important for us because the CO2 emissions will be lower than going with a global / multi-national provider. Lastly, they worked with us to bring our cups to life with environmentally-friendly ink. This meant we found our supplier for patient-first, planet-friendly cups.

Solution 2 - Bamboo Cups

The second option we deeply explored were reusable / circular cups. From the material assortment we found ceramic and bamboo to be our front-runner materials. However, we in the end selected bamboo as the material to craft our dental practice’s staff cups moving forward. The reason was easy: regenerative materials, regionally sourced and produced in the EU. Although we love feel of a ceramic cup for our espressi and tea, we agreed with our staff that we will fade our ceramic by replacing broken ceramic cups and mugs with bamboo.

This was an interesting morning team discussion, because it was such a used staff material. Becuase it is “top of mind, tip of tongue”, the staff immediately were engaged in exploring why we were looking at this, adding options, analyzing the findings, and picking the solution together. By engaging the team, it triggered a strong engagement, albeit such a “small” product in our dental practice. This seemed to create a stronger sense of pride to work at the dental practice, and pepped patient-centricity as a byproduct. This we can’t yet quantitatively prove, but the qualitative insights can be felt. Simply great!

Sustainability is a journey, and this was another baby step

We couldn’t be happier

Our Dentlee cups have an unexpected, inspirational quote and friendly smile that triggers a response in our patients over half the time. It’s a small moment in their time by us that improves their overall experience - reducing their fear and anxiety - and we couldn’t be happier.

Paper-based, recyclebar, regional cups make sense for our environment. We removed virgin plastic waste with this decision, and we couldn’t be happier.

Currently, we pay roughly 5 cents more per Dentlee cup versus the plastic alternatives; however, the price per cup is reducing because of economies of scale from increasing sales. Beyond the quantifiable costs, and more importantly, our patients’ experience by us increases and this is important for our reputation and brand. The price to see our patients smile more with us and bring it new patients by telling them are already occurring, and we couldn’t be happier.

This was “just” one baby step in the right direction. It took us six weeks of analyses, supplier negotiations, and team discussions. But the result has been paying off.

Interested in Dentlee Patient Cups?

We ordered many variants of non-plastic solutions. And we decided on this end result:

A EU-produced and sourced paper-based and bio-degradable cup. With our patient experience-first branding, we couldn’t be happier with the end product.

If you’re interested in getting your own Dentlee Cups, feel welcomed to reach us at sustainabilitydentistry@gmail.com. At this point in time, we will only supply regionally, to other EU-based dental practices. (#CO2reduction)

As always, we hope you, your team and communities are staying as healthy and safe during these times.

Saluti,

Your Sustainable Dentistry Team