Creating environmentally sustainable healthcare culture within the dental field requires embedding the content in the dental curriculum at the undergraduate level. This study aimed to explore the current awareness and drivers among dental students and educators regarding environmentally sustainable dentistry (ESD) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and identify barriers and enablers to embrace it.

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A cross-sectional survey using online questionnaires was carried out in six undergraduate dental education institutes within the UAE. Data analysis included descriptive statistics.

In total 153 students and 53 educators participated in the survey. Most students and educators were not aware of any ESD content in their curricula. However, the majority of educators were familiar with the concept of ESD, while students were mostly unfamiliar or slightly familiar. Nonetheless, students largely agreed on its importance and their interest in learning it, as they viewed it relevant to their future practice. Educators agreed that the dental profession has a responsibility to be environmentally friendly and expressed their desire in introducing ESD content into the curricula. Several barriers were reported such as lack of knowledge, curricula space, educational resources, and time. Meanwhile, enablers included providing ESD capacity building, training and resources.

There was no explicit presence of ESD content in the dental curricula in the UAE. Despite the lack of adequate awareness on this topic among educators and more so among students, they both had positive views towards incorporating ESD into dental curricula. Overall, this study highlighted the importance of promoting ESD in dental programs. Clinical significance: ESD is gradually becoming a critical aspect of modern oral healthcare system. It has been mandated in the dental curricula in several regions globally. Embedding ESD in the UAE dental curricula would have several benefits for the environment as well as the future of the dental profession in the region. The clinical significance includes, but not limited to, improved treatment outcomes; patients, students and staff health and well-being; reduced health risks, and cost savings.

Climate change has an impact on human health today and is expected to have a greater effect in the future. Years of research, negotiations, and panel meetings by the United Nations, World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlighted the importance of responding to climate change and fighting its global and health effects [1, 2]. Some of which include extreme heat, severe weather, air pollution, food and water-borne illnesses and infectious diseases that can have repercussions on human health like cardiovascular diseases, respiratory problems, and the fast spread of viral infections. The latter can increase the incidence of pandemics and contribute to the difficulty of controlling them such as the recent COVID-19 breakout [3, 4]. As more people are becoming aware of the great threats that climate change imposes on the planet, it is important to comprehend the climate footprint of the healthcare system. Over the decades, the global expansion of the medical sector, combined with the increase in the use of disposable medical products, has contributed to the generation of massive amounts of medical waste . According to the World Economic Forum, the healthcare systems account for over 4% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, which is considered more than that of the aviation and shipping sectors combined. Hospitals have the highest energy intensity of all publicly funded buildings and emit 2.5 times more greenhouse gasses than commercial buildings . The global health climate footprint is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 514 coal-fired power plants .