In your dental appointment, you will be seated in a dental chair.
This chair is a staple in a dental clinic and a dentist cannot thoroughly check the problems in your mouth without using it.
Moreover, it essentially helps to support the patient’s body during their treatment.
Therefore, its design and components and crucial to your checkup.
This medical equipment is a mainstay in the dental practice.
If you are looking to purchase a dental chair or know more about it, this article is for you.
Keep reading below to know the types and components that you should consider while buying.
What is a Dental Chair?
This chair is one of the most important parts of a dental unit for not only the patient but also the dentist.
It lets the dentist observe the patient’s oral cavity rather comfortably.
While the patient sits comfortably, the dentist also sits on the seat that comes with the chair.
To ensure comfort, besides the seat, there is an armrest a headrest, and a backrest.
Hence, it supports the patient’s entire body in a supine position.
Moreover, the dentist can recline patients to any position.
The chair can:
- move up
- recline to rest
- move down
- lie down
- lift
- raise the seat
This happens because the chair is set on a pedestal.
This can often swivel and is attached to the dental engine that supplies suction, power, and water.
These are usually made from both metal and plastic.
However, the medical equipment is unfused with antibacterial properties.
This minimizes the risk of infection and its spread.
Plus, it has a thin chair back which helps the dentist to sit on a stool behind the patient for easier access.
You must be wondering where did the chair originate from?
Well surprisingly, the first dental chair is as old as 1790.
Dr. Josiah Flagg attached a padded headrest and a small equipment tray to a side of a plain wooden chair.
However, before this sitting or lying on the floor was the common practice, all the while an assistant held the head in place for the dentist to perform the procedure.
Later in 1867, Dr. James Beall made a chair with a recline function and headrest.
However, the chair as we know now came into being in 1958.
Dr. John Naughton made a chair with an adjustable back, allowing the patient to recline in a prone position that assists the dentist.
Types of Dental Chair
While Dr. John Naughton’s design of the chair became what we more or less use these days, technological advancements have elaborated the same design into 3 new types.
While there can be different attachments to the chairs, the design is usually of 3 main types.
- ceiling mounted
- dental chair mounted
- mobile independent design
The attachments in a ceiling-mounted chair are not attached to the chair but rather the ceiling itself.
The chair is beneath it.
Sounds strange right? Not really!
The attachments are simply built in to the ceiling.
It provides benefits such as more floor space and gives a more elevated view.
That helps the dentist with ergonomic issues such as neck pain while they are looking down on patients for a long while.
Next up, when have the chair mounted design.
As the name suggests, unlike the ceiling-mounted design, this one has all the attachments in the chair itself.
So you have the dental engine and other attachments in the chair itself.
It can take quite a lot of space but is efficient because it is a full package.
Following that is the mobile independent design or portable dental chair.
This one has the elements that make it portable to use in mobile operations.
It is wheel mounted with locking mechanisms so that it can be carried.
Moreover, these are folding-style chairs, so you can easily carry and pack them.
Their main use is in areas where dental facilities are not as accessible.
Besides these there are variations of these chairs:
Orthodontic Chairs
These are full-body seats.
They are one-piece however, they can provide several seating positions.
Hence, they provide more comfort and security during the procedure.
Oral Surgical Chairs
This includes a footrest that can be lowered entirely.
Components
The chair consists of several components that all serve an important function while examining a patient.
Dental Light/Operator Light
The dental chair lights the mouth allowing the dentist to perform the procedure comfortably.
It provides optimum illumination to see what is going on in the darker oral cavity.
Though it is at least kept at a safer distance of 30 to 50 inches away from the mouth so that the light does not shine in the patient’s mouth.
Furthermore, the light has dimmer switches and other controls to adjust its intensity as per requirement.
Plus, its handles and switches are wrapped in plastic or aluminum foil to act as a protective barrier.
They are replaced with clean covers after every patient.
The movable parts of the light need lubrication and cleaning regularly.
Control Buttons
These controls on the chair allow the dentist to move it upwards or downwards and adjust it according to their comfort.
X-Ray Viewer
An X-ray view helps to examine the patient’s oral cavity and the position of their teeth.
It lets the dentist see the radiograph while carrying out the examination.
It highlights the possibility of decay which are areas that appear darker on the X-ray.
Disposable Glass Holder
Patients need a disposable cup or glass during the examination to sip water and gargle and then spit in the spitoon bowl.
Gargling removes the debris and blood in the mouth that has been accumulating during the treatment.
Spitoon Bowl
It is a bowl or a basin where patients spit after gargling or simply spit their saliva.
Moreover, it has a water pipe that flushes down the contents into a drain and keeps the basin cleaner.
Air Water Syringe
The air-water syringe releases water or compressed air to clean the surface of the tooth.
Components: Bracket Table, Foot Control, and Aspirator
Instrument Tray
This tray holds all the instruments that the dentist needs during the procedure.
It is also known as the bracket table.
It holds hand instruments and diagnostic medical equipment.
There are instruments such as the dental mouth mirror, cotton holders, cement mixtures, and cotton.
Foot Control Motor
This motor delivers power to use the dental equipment.
It is especially useful whenever the dentist’s hands are full.
The electric foot or pedal has a similar operating button that a manual one does.
Moreover, it operates using the foot press while the instruments remain sterilized as they do not touch hands that frequently.
Aspirator
The suction machine sucks the saliva that keeps accumulating in the mouth during the procedure.
During the treatment, saliva can keep building up in the mouth as well as the small particles in the cavity.
However, it removes easily using the machine that generates negative pressure.
A vacuum creates due to that negative pressure.
Then, the plastic catheter on the machine suctions and pulls the saliva from your mouth.
It gives the dentist clarity while treating your condition and your mouth also does not fill up.
All of these components are crucial in the chair and assist the dentist to perform an efficient procedure.
Hence, you need to look for the presence of all of these components in the chair while purchasing it.
Besides that, also lookout for the following.
What to Look For in a Dental Chair?
It is absolutely important to check beforehand that your chair has all the components you need.
Other than that, you should check for its comfort.
When your patient is uncomfortable, you too wouldn’t be able to perform the procedure well.
However, a happier and more relaxed patient will lead to better dental care.
Plus, it will provide support and protection.
Hence, invest in a comfortable and high-quality chair that also functions well.
The functionality of the chair should enable you to give high-level care to your patients.
Look out for flexible foot control, adjustability of the seat, control panel, and more that make your work more efficient, leaving your patients satisfied.
Though, you should not pick up any chair unless it matches your clinic’s interior.
A chair takes up a huge space in your clinic so it will be the first thing that the patient sees when they enter.
The impression they get from the aesthetics is what they will carry forward for your brand.
Hence, aesthetics and style are crucial things to consider before making a purchasing call.
You can also customize it by changing the fabrics, colors, and finishes but make sure you leave your patients impressed.
That said, pricing is still the most important determinant in making a purchasing call.
Tally the dental chair price of different brands and spend your time researching their functions.
Since it is a big investment you may want to keep your budget into consideration.
Finally,
Engiomed also provides dental chair at affordable rates.
These aren’t only comfortable and aesthetic but also contain the primary functionality needed by a dentist.
Check out our product page to know more! If you are planning to buy dental supplies online then visit Engiomed website.
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