GAP Australasian-Dentist-May June 2019

Category 104 AustrAlAsiAn Dentist W hat began as a Peruvian dentist’s personal plea to curb dental amalgam use in her country developed into a full-fledged research on the Minamata Convention, a Master’s thesis and an internship at the united nations. the handling and disposal of amalgam waste in the dental practice is a topic close to Dr Gabriela sardon’s heart. Back in 2015, the Peruvian dentist’s dual passions for public health and dentistry inspired her to write a position paper to her government to stop the use of dental amalgam. this was when she learnt about the Minamata Convention. named after a city in Japan devastated by widespread mercury poisoning, the Minamata Convention is a multilateral environmental agreement that seeks to protect the human health and the environment from the harmful effects of mercury. Article 4 of the Convention addresses mercury-added products, including the phase-down of dental amalgam use. Dr sardon’s extensive research into dentists’ implementation of the Minamata requirements, while reinforcing her belief that she chose a topic of timely relevance, also challenged her original assumptions. “iwantedtorequestformygovernment to stop the use of dental amalgam in the public sector as it contained mercury and required an invasive treatment. the more i read about dental amalgam, the more i realised that my thoughts were not supported by available evidence. in particular, the evidence proving dental amalgam to be a safe material with no true substitute in the current market that matches its durability in posterior direct restorations and high wear resistance to masticatory forces.” As a dentist, she found that most of her peers in Peru were not taking adequate measures to dispose their dental amalgam waste. since Peru was a signatory of the Minamata Convention at the time (now a ratifying country), Dr sardon was interested tofind out howprepared dentists in the public sector were to implement the proposed treaty. Dental amalgam is often the material of choice in the public sector in latin American countries. “the research highlighted the need for dentists to be informed and consulted regarding the implementation of the Minamata Convention, and to be provided with appropriate training (i.e. best management practices and environmental/toxicology component), resources (alternative materials and proper equipment), and regulation to successfully implement the phase-down of dental amalgam. this can help to secure the dentists’ support and engagement during organisational changes in their practice as required by the treaty.” During her research, she found similar projects being carried out around the globe, including those conducted by the united nations environment Programme (un environment) and the World Health Organization (WHO). this motivated her to undertake a 6-month internship at the Chemicals and Health Branch of un environment in Geneva, switzerland. “During this time i engaged with stakeholders that were not only involved in the project i was interested in, but also projects across different sectors that were being addressed under the Minamata Convention. this was quite challenging as i was exposed to topics that i had very little knowledge about but it was motivation to educate myself further to learn how different sectors interacted with each other to comply with the Minamata Convention.” Calling the internship a life-altering experience, she says it exposed her to the inner workings of organisations involved in high-level policy making. By Danny Chan proFIle We need to talk about dental amalgams United Nations interns. Dr Gabriela Sardon First meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP 1).