New Eco-Friendly Reusable Gowns in SLC Following ASDA Sustainability Multi-Year Audit
Starting in the 2025-2026 academic year, reusable gowns will be used in the school’s Simulation Learning Center, replacing disposable gowns and helping to reduce the volume of single-use waste produced by the dental school. This change comes after a three-year-long audit initiated by the Sustainability Committee of GSDM’s American Student Dental Association (ASDA) chapter.
Disposable personal protective equipment (PPE) is required in the Patient Treatment Center due to contact with patients, but Kate Winebrake DMD 25, immediate past chair of the ASDA Sustainability Committee, and Nicole Cheng DMD 26, vice chair of the ASDA Sustainability Committee, wanted to explore the feasibility of using reusable gowns in the SLC, where patient contact is nonexistent.
“When we’re at the SLC, everything is really just to simulate the patient-provider relationship and environment,” Winebrake said. “The act of putting on your gown and then when you’re leaving the SLC, taking it off [and] just getting in the habit of doing that while you’re at your bay and mannequin reinforces the whole idea of proper PPE when you get to the Patient Treatment Center. I think [the reusable gowns] absolutely will continue to prepare students.”
With the help of Dr. Joseph Calabrese, associate dean of students, and fellow ASDA members, the ASDA Sustainability Committee started audits in November 2022 to calculate PPE usage in the SLC.
Winebrake and Cheng said it took some experimentation to determine what data they wanted to collect, how they were going to do so, and with whom they needed to collaborate. They collected data on the number of gowns, masks, and gloves used per day in the Patient Treatment Center over the course of two and a half years, adding more detailed calculations and/or different methodologies to ensure that they were capturing an accurate picture of how gowns, masks, and gowns were used in the SLC.
“Dr. Calabrese has been integral to this process, as well as all the students who care about sustainability and wanted to participate in the audit,” Cheng said. “It was not a solo job at all. It was really awesome to see that people cared about this and wanted to help make change.”
The results of these audits led to a decision to switch to reusable gowns.
New reuseable gowns will be included in the instrument kits that students in the DMD 29 and DMD AS 27 classes. The gowns will be distributed later in the semester with the first-year students’ scrubs and lab coats. Students will be responsible for washing the gowns, similar to how they wash their scrubs. Winebrake and Cheng don‘t believe that this cleaning process will create significant additional water waste.
“It will just be added to an already existing [cleaning] routine,” Cheng said. “Luckily, our schedule allows for laundry without it being a daily burden.”
Winebrake and Cheng said there are many steps that can be taken towards implementing more sustainable practices in a high-use industry—and switching to reusable gowns in the SLC is one step in the right direction. They are hopeful that this change will spark continued efforts to find eco-friendly solutions in the dental profession.
“The whole purpose of our committee is to try to incorporate sustainable dental practices,” Winebrake said. “The reusable gowns is a great opportunity for students, faculty, and all the members of our community to see this happen firsthand at GSDM.”