Dentalcompare
Clinical Director
Dental equipment peanut butter meets its chocolate.
Often in dentistry, we don’t find what we need right away. While we love the “have your cake and eat it too” philosophy, it is often hard to find that perfect combination of dental equipment. Because of that, dentists are notorious for tinkering with their equipment, attaching all sorts of items to existing poles or countertops. While this is good from a functional standpoint, it often leaves the treatment room looking a little cluttered. It can also sometimes have implications on a product’s warranty.
A-dec has always maintained a quality line of products, as well as choices among those lines. For their dental patient chairs alone, you have four product lines with twenty-five different colors of upholstery to choose. The problem is that there has not been as much latitude when it came to the systems as a whole. Knowing dentists like to customize their working space, A-dec recently switched things up. If you opt for their “Cadillac” of dental chairs, the A-dec 500 series, you can now swap out the standard A-dec 500 delivery system for the smaller, lighter A-dec 300 delivery system without losing much in the way of integration.
The A-dec 500 series dental chair is one of those chairs that needs to be sat in to truly appreciate. With dental chairs, it’s important to strike a balance between how much cushion is there, with how much support you get. For example, too much cushion, and you risk losing back support. Too little cushion, and the patient feels like they are laying on a piece of plywood. Plus, when a chair is thick with upholstery and padding, smaller statured doctors often have to hunch their shoulders to work on the patient. The A-dec 500 dental chair has been developed with pressure mapping technology, creating balanced support for the patient. This creates a comfortable, relaxed position for your patients, which in turn makes for easier patients to work on. This all happens while keeping the back of the chair super thin - providing you great access to your patient. You can pretty much move anywhere around the patient with a back that is less than 1 inch in some areas.
Another feature geared toward patient comfort is the movement of the chair itself. The hydraulics allow for a soft start and a soft stop when moving the patient, eliminating any jerky motion. Patients are afraid enough without startling them every time the chair moves. The chair back also has a virtual pivot at the waist area, allowing your patient not to have to adjust their position just because you changed the incline of the chair.
The A-dec 300 delivery system may not be as full-featured as its A-dec 500 big brother, but you are hardly sacrificing to go smaller, lighter, and less expensive. Looking over the features, this delivery system is like having a Ferrari engine stuffed inside a Mini Cooper. There is still a single spot for an air water syringe, and an additional four spots for other devices. You can connect air driven high speed handpieces, electric handpieces, intraoral cameras, ultrasonic scalers, or even a curing light. With all that functionality integrated, it creates extreme versatility in your operatory, allowing you to do just about any procedure in that same room.
The A-dec 300 delivery system also allows diversity in the position around the chair itself. You can get it configured to swing all the way to the right or left depending on the preference of the operator. You can even mount it to a post depending on the configuration of your treatment room. The touchpad is easy to use, and can be configured with a deluxe display for torque and RPM feedback if you are setting the room up for endodontics.
Because the A-dec 300 is so streamlined, it really works well in smaller rooms. If you are of smaller stature, it’s also a bit easier to move around compared to the 500 series. Even with those considerations, it can still support whatever it is you do in your office.
Ultimately, I like this combination because it gives everyone what they want. If I gave the patient a choice, they would want the chair with the most comfort. If I asked other dentists what they want, they want something that fits in their treatment rooms and provides for any procedure they might do. To truly appreciate the uniqueness of both, you just have to sit down with one and try it. Keep in mind, if you can’t make it to the trade shows, A-dec has showrooms around the country with the equipment for you to test out.