But is that the point? We don't think so. To most of the responsible and caring dentists we work with, dumping known hazardous chemicals and known carcinogens into our waste system is not the right thing to do. Who of us wants to be turned away at our local beaches because of contaminated water? Who wants foul smelling water dripping in our sinks? Who wants dead fish floating in our lakes and rivers? Who of us wants to be part of the pollution problem instead of part of the solution?

X-ray solutions consist of two photo-chemicals: fixer and developer. Fixer contains several acids and ammonia in solution. During the developing of x-rays, the film, which contains silver nitrate, passes through the fixer solution. Most of the silver nitrate is removed from the film and is left in the solution in the fixer bath. Typically, spent fixer contains 3,000 to 10,000 parts-per-million of silver, and that is at least 1,000 times more than the maximum legal limit. Developer is a chemical with a high ph and contains caustic or basic solutions. Developer can be considered non-regulated in its virgin state. But once it has been exposed to film, it generally becomes contaminated with chromium in amounts over ten times the maximum limit.

In my home state of California there are over 24,000 licensed dentists using and disposing of fixer and developer each day. If each of those practitioners dumps a single gallon of hazardous chemicals into our water system each week, that's 24,000 gallons of contaminants a week going into our drinking water, lakes, rivers and seas. Multiply those numbers by years, and by the thousands of other businesses doing the same, and you can quickly see the magnitude of the problem.

Also, we can't ignore that the potential for fines exists. Any governmental agency on your premises for an unrelated event, a disgruntled employee, a patient or even your managed care provider can report you for illegal dumping.

Illegal dumping is a felony punishable by up to a $25,000 per day fine and possible imprisonment. Nobody wants to go to bed with that hanging over his or her head. Besides, hazardous waste pick-up and disposal is inexpensive.