Sir, I write further to a recent letter published in the BDJ on 'Green dentistry: Single use plastic' (2019; 227: 327).

Having been employed in the dental profession for some decades I was somewhat amused by the comments regarding the ways in which plastic can be reduced within the dental industry. How many practitioners still remember the glass (autoclavable) dapons pots, glass mouth rinse beakers and metal aspirator tips? These items are still in use in some practices if you look hard enough. I feel that we have in recent decades, along with many others, denegrated the 'old' ways in the belief that 'new' is always better. Within this thought I must also urge the dental chair/unit manufacturers to review aspects of the modern dental chair. How many times within a single appointment is an operator compelled to alter the position of the operating light? Compare the modern lighting to the old, large mirror edged operating lights of half a century ago. How often was it necessary to adjust their angles? Could not manufacturers produce a light with the illumination of the modern bulb with the light arc of the old? With such a fast changing profession, I feel we are sometimes at risk of throwing out the baby with the bath water.