Committed to doing our part!

Artisan Dental is committed to practicing in a way that’s respectful of the planet. For this reason our office has a critical piece of equipment in our mechanical closet: the amalgam separator. Amalgam is the material used for silver-looking fillings that have been used in dentistry for numerous years.

 Here’s what a separator looks like:

It’s attached to our vacuum system, and captures mercury-containing waste before it ends up flushed through our office to the local wastewater treatment facility. The average general dental office generates between 1.5 and 3 pounds of mercury waste a year.

According to the EPA, U.S. dental offices remain the #1 contributor of mercury-containing waste to local wastewater treatment facilities: in the aggregate a staggering 3.7 tons a year. Unless captured by a properly maintained separator, dental amalgam waste becomes a component of the sludge that’s produced after waste is processed by our local treatment facilities. Sadly, some of this sludge ends up as fertilizer that’s used to grow our food. Properly capturing and recycling this toxic waste before it’s sent to our wastewater treatment plants, helps protect our environment, and the well-being of the local communities in which we practice.