Climate change (Part 1)
Amost worrying report has come out of Geneva. It explains the extreme weather events that have occurred this year: widespread fires in California and Greece, heat waves in Europe and heavy rains and floods in China.
Scientists observing changes in the Earth’s temperature now report that climate change is real.
The changes have not happened before in hundreds even thousands of years, says the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report released on August 9.
The IPCC states without doubt that human activities have caused the 1.1 degrees Celsius of warming observed from 1850 to 1900 and that global temperature will reach or exceed 1.5°C in the next 20 years.
The evidence is clear that carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main driver of climate change while greenhouse gases and air pollutants also affect the climate, the report states.
Some of the changes that are already happening – such as the continued sea level rise – is “irreversible” over hundreds to thousands of years, says the IPCC report.
With strong reductions in CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions, humans could stabilize global warming in 30 years, the IPCC report says.
If not, a warming close to 1.5°C or even 2°C will happen, it warns.
For 1.5°C of global warming, there will be increasing heat waves, longer warm seasons and shorter cold seasons. At 2°C of global warming, heat extremes would reach critical thresholds that would be adverse for agriculture and health.
More intense rainfall, flooding and more intense drought will occur.
Rains will likely increase in the northern latitude and decrease over large parts of the subtropics.
Sea level will rise along seashores, leading to coastal erosion and more frequent and severe flooding in lowlying areas. Extreme sea level events that previously occurred once in 100 years could happen every year by the end of this century.
With the dire warnings from the IPCC, a paper published in the June issue of the International Dental Journal is very timely.
There are currently no published data regarding the impact of climate change on oral health, says Dr. Donna M. Hackleyab, the paper’s lead author.
“Dental care delivery systems must demonstrate resiliency to survive extreme weather events and, as is profoundly known now with COVID-19, pandemics,” writes Dr. Hackleyab on the preparedness of dental practice to the global climate disruptions.
Dr. Hackleyab is with the Department of Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology, Office of Global and Community Health, Harvard School of Dental Medicine.
She cites heat stress as one example of how climate change affects dentistry.
Greenhouse gases trapped in the atmosphere has led to rising average global temperatures.
Dental patients who are managed medically with diuretics (a common treatment for high blood pressure) are more susceptible to the effects of heat stress. Several drugs found within standard emergency kits for dental offices are affected by heat.
Typical drugs for handling asthma episodes (albuterol) or allergic reactions (epinephrine) become less effective when exposed to heat.
Heat stress also contributes to increasing antibiotic resistance. When antibiotics become less effective, patients are more susceptible to medical crises.
Emergency medications that become less effective under extreme heat increase the risk for adverse medical events in the dental setting.
***
Dr. Joseph D. Lim is the former Associate Dean of the College of Dentistry, University of the East; former Dean, College of Dentistry, National University; Past President and Honorary Fellow of the Asian Oral Implant Academy; Honorary Fellow of the Japan College of Oral Implantologists; and Honorary Life Member of the Thai Association of Dental Implantology. For questions on dental health, e-mail jdlim2008@gmail. com or text 0917-8591515./
The evidence is clear that carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main driver of climate change while greenhouse gases and air pollutants also affect the climate, the report states.