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By Mark Berthold

Laramie, Wyo. — Interstate 80 stretches 2,909 miles from Teaneck, N.J., to San Francisco, but if you're looking for some drama along the way that affects dentistry, be sure to stop right here.

At a city council meeting Feb. 8, the city clarified that a pending ordinance change — to set extremely low numerical limits on the amount of mercury that may be discharged into city sewers — would not apply to dental office wastewater.

The city has reserved its right to revisit the question, but for now, "we're just glad to get a letter from the city saying that we dentists will not be regulated," says Laramie native Dr. Debra Shevick. "They aren't going to impose numerical limits on dentists and they're not looking at us right now."

If council members had followed the initial advice of the federal Environmental Protection Agency's Region 8 by including dental offices in the still-proposed ordinance, "we'd have been put out of business," says Dr. Shevick, referring not just to herself but to all dozen dentists who practice in Laramie.

"There's no way we [dentists] could comply with the city regulating us to two parts per trillion," she explains. "Even if dental offices followed BMPs and installed amalgam separators, we might not meet that numerical limit."

In that scenario, every local dentist "would have to just shut down," says Dr. Shevick. "Everyone would have to travel out of town for dental work; the closest place is an hour to an hour-and-a-half away."

The city council says it retains the right to change its position if circumstances warrant. Thus, the negotiations now move to what steps the Laramie dentists will take in order to limit their discharge of amalgam waste.

In those negotiations, the city may demand of dentists everything from voluntary compliance with the ADA's Best Management Practices to mandatory installation of amalgam separators. These issues will then have to be addressed, but Laramie dentists are hopeful that numerical limits, at least, will stay off the table.

"We still have more work to do," says Dr. Shevick. "We're going to be more proactive: train all our staff in BMPs, make sure all dentists are trapping and recycling their mercury, do more education — and document all of this."

Dr. Shevick gives kudos to the ADA for its help. "[ADA staff] have been absolutely awesome in coming out here to Laramie and going to bat for us. We couldn't have done this without them."

She also expresses optimism that city officials, the EPA's Region 8 and the ADA "can come up with good strategies for mercury disposal; programs that are acceptable for the city and the EPA — and feasible for dentists to comply with."

But if things don't work out, Dr. Shevick says, she won't leave her native Laramie. She'll just close her dental office and retire early.