Describing how he came to be a “green dentist,” Dr. Nathan Swanson’s analogy is, for a lack of a better term, quite cinematic: “I started noticing how much garbage was piling up in the back of the medical complex just between a few offices,” Swanson explains. “And then I multiplied that out by the fact that there are 5 similar complexes in the city of Exeter alone. Then I multiplied that out by how many there were in the state, the country, the world. Basically it was like one of those scenes in the movie where the camera pans out Google Earth-style super far and you recognize and appreciate the true scope of the scene.”

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For Swanson, who owns and runs Newmarket Dental in downtown Newmarket, the issue of waste was the first – and in some ways the easiest – step in becoming a truly green dentist. From here, he began looking at the actual tools of the trade; the toothbrushes, floss, seat covers, and other dental ephemera familiar to most. He replaced the old toothbrushes with ones that are 100% recyclable and biodegradable (from recycled Stonyfield yogurt cups); switched from plastic seat covers – used dry cleaning bags at one point – to corn-based slipcovers; bid adieu to run-of-the-mill plastic cups in lieu of corn-based cups; and even switched to a dental floss whose container was recyclable. From here Dr. Swanson plans on exploring and hopefully soon incorporating larger, more significant changes, including a complete renovation of Newmarket Dental’s office, switching to materials that received the highest environmental ratings.

Dr. Nate’s green dreams were “to take over an old mill building space or warehouse, and literally do everything possible in the greenest, most sustainable manner possible – from the toothbrushes and seat covers to the envelope of the building itself.” He has never lost sight of that, and has done everything in the past five years to fulfill those goals.