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Four dentistry students of the University of Costa Rica came up with a solution to reduce plastic waste caused by dental saliva ejectors, which are currently discarded after just one use.
The students, Nicole Miranda, Maria Francinie Guevara, Yulieth Segura and Catalina Serra created a metallic ejector of surgical level that can be cleaned in the autoclave and used multiple times, eliminating the estimated 801,792 plastic saliva ejectors that are discarded in just one year in the country, an important source of contamination.
The metallic version of the dental instrument will also represent savings for dentists.
“Dental saliva ejectors are one of the instruments dentists use more and these have a big environmental impact. Our proposal is a stainless-steel ejector of surgical quality to decrease the environmental impact, the design complies with all requirements and conditions for a professional to change the regular plastic ejector”, commented Yulieth Segura. “The mouthpiece can be removed, which helps with the appropriate sterilization in the autoclave”, continued Segura.
The idea was presented at the third annual innovation fair that is organized by the Dentistry Faculty of the University of Costa Rica. The stainless-steel saliva ejector was named Cuak.
Currently, this product is not available in the market. Investors interested in this product can communicate with the Dentistry Faculty at the University of Costa Rica on phone number: 2511-8082.
