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Dental & Medical

Do You Work With Mercury? The Four Things You Must Know About The Minamata Convention
Many people who work with mercury don’t even know it. It is present in fluorescent lighting, some types of dental, medical and mining waste, and in a wide range of industrial equipment. If you have anything to do with these industries, your obligation for their safe disposal is about to increase. We've put together four key things you need to know about Minamata, and what it means for you and your business.   1. The Minamata Convention Keeps Mercury Out Of Our Environment And Waterwa…
Mercury Kills Thousands Every Year. The Minamata Convention Is Here To Change That.
In the mid-1950s doctors in the Japanese city of Minamata began to see patients with severe neurological symptoms. Many died a horrible death. Eventually, Minamata disease was found to be the result of mercury poisoning. A nearby chemical plant was pouring a highly toxic form of mercury, methylmercury, into the sea. Methylmercury is bio-magnified – small fish are eaten by bigger fish, and methylmercury levels increase up the food chain until the big fish are eaten by people. Now, nearly 60 ye…
How Dentists Make The Best Lovers
It turns out your dentist could have quite an influence on your sex life. And no, we aren’t suggesting anything unprofessional! It’s all to do with the way in which a good set of teeth appeals to the opposite sex – and the answer is ‘a lot’. We are quick to form opinions when meeting someone new and, not unreasonably, we consider the state of someone’s teeth to be an indicator of their overall health and ‘reproductive fitness’. In a survey of single men and women conducted in the US last y…
Five Stunning Uses For X-rays Outside Of Hospitals
Chances are you’ve had an X-ray to check for broken bones, find the source of that niggling back pain or to reveal holes hiding in your teeth. X-rays are also the basis of CT scans that reveal, slice by slice, a detailed picture of our inner workings. But these magical rays that can see through flesh and bone can be put to many more uses. Here are just a few that have caught our eye. 1. Take A Peek Inside A Mummy In earlier days of Egyptian archaeology numerous mummies were unwrapped and pr…
The Next Time You Go To The Dentist, Make Sure You Ask This Question
Dental amalgam waste is believed to be one of the single largest sources of mercury pollutions in sewage and waste water in Australia. It comes from fillings that are being replaced and from the amalgam removed from new fillings as they are worked into shape. All up, it is estimated that in Australia alone, over four tonnes (pdf) of mercury goes down dentists’ drains each year. As Australia’s only EPA licensed mercury recycler, we know that only a small fraction of that mercury gets trapped a…
One Thing Everyone Should Read About Dental Fillings
We say a lot about the harm that mercury can cause, and why it’s a good thing to keep it out of our environment. You might have seen our article on mercury in fish with its link to a useful infographic that provides a nice little summary of why mercury is a bad guy in many situations. But there is one major area where mercury is the good guy, and that’s when it is used in dental fillings. Why Is Dental Amalgam So Good? Dental amalgam combines mercury, silver, tin and copper, with mercury ma…
Amalgam separators capture mercury to keep it out of the environment
Originally known as the Melbourne Dental Hospital, The Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne has been operating since 1890, providing a variety of dental services to the public, including many decades of dental restorations using mercury-containing amalgam. Ecocycle discussed managing the dental amalgam waste from the Royal Melbourne Dental Hospital with Facilities Manager Paul Horsington.  After a thorough system assessment, a proposal to handle the amalgam wastes was developed, approved and su…

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