The Eco-Dentistry Association Rewards Consumers for Their Green Smiles

New Eco-Dentistry Badge Awarded to Consumers for Making Eco-Friendly Choices in Oral Health Care

Berkeley, CA (February 2, 2012) The Eco-Dentistry Association today launched a new way to reward consumers for visiting an eco-friendly dentist and making eco-friendly oral health choices: the �Eco-Dentistry Badge.� The award, created in collaboration with Practically Green�, an influential company using gamification and social media to motivate people to make planet-friendly choices, provides specific actions individual consumers and their friends can take.

The Eco-Dentistry Badge offers a deeply engaged digital experience for users by allowing them to track their eco-friendly oral health behavior, earning points for each initiative. The customized badge specifically encourages consumers to:

Use a toothbrush made from recycled or renewable materials, and properly recycle it when it�s time to swap for a new one;
Turn off the water while brushing;

Seek oral care products free from chemicals, toxins and alcohol;
Visit an eco-friendly dentist or participate in the EDA�s �Green My Dentist� campaign by sending a letter to their dentist encouraging them to �go green�.

Completing these actions allows users the opportunity to earn 65 points in the �Health� category of Practically Green�s badges. Consumers are able to share their progress earning badges through their own social media networks, and Practically Green will let consumers know of others in their community who have also earned the Eco-Dentistry badge. The theory is that individuals are more likely to lead a sustainable lifestyle when it is fun and their progress is tracked and shared with friends and the larger community.

�We want to empower individuals to make sustainable choices about their oral care and to remind them that simple steps can have a huge impact� says EDA Co-Founder Ina Pockrass. �Visiting a dental professional that shares an individual�s commitment to the environment forges a special bond of loyalty between patient and practitioner. Earning the Eco- Dentistry badge is a fun and easy way to remember that every action makes a difference and it will help stimulate the transformation of the dental industry.�

The Eco-Dentistry badge is available to all Practically Green users and it�s free to sign-up. Users can sign up at www.practicallygreen.com and once connected, individuals complete the �How Green are You?� quiz that assigns them a shade of green�ranging from barely green to superbly green. Consumers can start immediately earning badges and encouraging others in their network to do the same.

About the EDA

The EDA offers dental professionals� practical tips on incorporating eco-friendly dental methods and practices, and offers the public access to dental professionals that share their values of wellness and environmental stewardship. The organization was co-founded by Dr. Fred Pockrass, a dentist, and his entrepreneur wife, Ina Pockrass, who together created the model for eco-friendly dentistry, and operate their own award-winning dental practice in Berkeley, California, the first in the country to be certified as a green business. They formed the organization to stimulate a movement in the dental industry to employ environmentally-sound practices, like reducing waste and pollution, saving energy, water and money, incorporating wellness-based methods and the best technological advances in dentistry.

More information can be found at www.ecodentistry.org