Sustainability and Social Responsibility
Our core values are integrity, excellence and care, but you might ask to whom?
Our team and our patients are our central focus but equally important to us are:
- our local community in Blackwood and the surrounding Adelaide Hills areas; and
- our environment and the planet.
Green Dentistry
Recycling Oral Care products
As a commitment to zero waste and to minimise our impact on the environment we are a dental practice that has been a part of the Terracycle Colgate Oral Care Brigade since 2018 and so far we have recycled over 60kg toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes!
Anyone from the local community (you don’t have to be a patient) is welcome to drop their dental products in our recycle bins free of charge at the front and rear entrances of our practice.
We donate all proceeds from our recycling program to a local primary school, Blackwood Primary.
What can be recycled?
We accept any brand of:
- Empty floss containers
- Cardboard packaging from toothpaste & toothbrushes
- Used toothbrushes, wisps and interdental brushes
- Empty toothpaste tubes and pumps
- Electric toothbrush heads
Environmentally conscious dental practice
At Shepherds Hill Dental Centre we practice our value of care for our environment every day through:
Clean Energy
- Clean renewable energy from solar panels powers us while we work
- We’ve produced over 65MWh of solar energy since 2018
- We’ve saved over 40,000 kg of CO2 through solar
- We are an all-electric dental practice
- Our electricity retailer is certified Carbon Neutral
Energy saving:
- Efficient LED lighting
- Low power electronic devices
Sustainable Practices:
- We use amalgam-free fillings
- We use Digital x-rays which use significantly less radiation exposure than traditional x-rays, and don’t require processing chemicals
- We are aiming to be a paperless office and in this process are decreasing our use of paper.
- We separate not-soiled compostable items like paper towels, and send them for composting in the council FOGO bin.
- Dentistry is traditionally a large contributor of the single-use plastic problem. We are consciously reducing this in places where it doesn’t compromise our strict sterilisation and infection control procedures. For those materials we do use, we are recycling as much as possible.
Active Transport:
- Cycling is a big part of life in Blackwood and Belair so we’ve provided two bike loops at the front of the practice for easy and safe bike storage during your appointment.
Want to find out more? Talk to us about what we do at your next appointment.
Modern technologies – good for the patients and our planet
We invest in the latest dental technology. This allows us to provide treatment that is quicker, more accurate, and more comfortable for our patients.
Our Primescan digital 3D scanner allows us to scan teeth with incredible accuracy and speed. In many cases it eliminates the need for those uncomfortable and much-hated impressions that also contain alginate or silicones. Technology such as our scanner is a WIN-WIN for our patients and our planet as it is FAR more pleasant for patients, and at the same time, results in less waste. It also reduces the amount of courier transports we need to do to move traditional impression materials to laboratories.
This technology can be used for tooth whitening trays, night guards and of course, when we do crowns, bridges and implants.
Want to find out more about our technologies? Ask us about our 3D scanner at your next appointment.
Dental Volunteering
We take part in dental volunteering programs to give back to the community.
Charity begins at work and this is a big part of our value of care.
We have registered with the Australian Dental Association (ADA) Health Foundation’s:
- Rebuilding Smiles program which provides oral health care to the victims of domestic violence
- Dental Rescue Day where we treat homeless and other disadvantaged patients who are without access to dental care.
Supporting our local community
As a local business we love Blackwood and our surrounding suburbs. We are independently owned and operated by dentists that also live locally, with the majority of our team also local residents.
Where possible we use and support local businesses and we are a proud sponsor of The Blackwood Community Buzz.
Within our local community we perform dental education talks at our local schools, childcare centres and retirement homes.
Our child dental talks give us a great opportunity to help the younger members of our community about the importance of caring for your dental health, how to do this and educating them on topics such as good, bad and ‘sometimes’ food.
Contact us
We find many patients are looking for a dentist who shares their environmental or community values.
Call our friendly reception team on (08) 8278 6858 or book your appointment online.
Looking for a dental partner who provides quality and care for you and your family?
Give us a call today on (08) 8278 6858 or complete the online form to book your appointment or discuss how we can help you with your dental care.
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