DT News - UK - Dental chair simplifies treatment of physically handicapped

Yvonne Bachmann, DTI

Thu. 29 January 2015

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SHOREHAM-BY-SEA, UK: Even though the dental care of disabled people has gained more significance in recent years, physically impaired patients are not always treated optimally. However, customised treatment is important for people with special needs in particular. For instance, it is safest that those with mobility problems be treated in their own wheelchair. The diaco dental chair facilitates this kind of treatment. Ten years after its introduction, the fully mobile dental platform is used in over 400 dental hospitals and clinics in 18 countries.

The diaco dental chair was created by specialist engineers and designers with input from wheelchair users, wheelchair manufacturers and dentists. After two years of development and dozens of prototypes, the device was introduced in 2005 and has since benefited a large number of wheelchair-bound patients, who can remain in their devices during dental treatment, and dentists, who can perform treatment at the optimal angle. “The patient’s head is in the right position, allowing the correct access for the dental team. It’s safe, simple and easy to use. When you’ve finished, it simply wheels away to the side of the surgery awaiting the next wheelchair patient,” Steve Campbell, one of the directors and founders of UK-based company diaco, told Dental Tribune Online.

The first countries to implement the technology were the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Australia. Today, 90 per cent of dental clinics who use a special chair for wheelchair users rely on this chair, Campbell explained. “Recently, we have exported to several new countries, including Canada, Qatar and Singapore, and over 50 new Veterans Affairs’ medical facilities across the USA have adopted the diaco dental chair”. The chair is also used by dental professionals in Belgium, Chile, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey.

“Over the past ten years, we have seen governments developing special care dental provision and plans in their country and then rolling out clinics with this provision in mind. This is particularly prevalent in Asia and the Middle East,” Campbell said. “The diaco dental chair has changed access to dentistry for both the patient and the clinical team. The patient remains in the safety and security of their own wheelchair while, at the same time, allowing dental teams access to the patient in the correct position.”

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At a price of approximately $50,000 (€43,000), the chair offers a number of features unique to this kind of product. “The key features are the safe working load of 500 kg—some electric wheelchairs weigh 200 kg—and the fact that the diaco dental chair takes all mass-manufactured manual and electric wheelchairs,” Campbell explained. Although originally designed for treating wheelchair users, the chair is also an option for treating heavily obese patients. The chair is completely automatic when moved around the surgery. The user simply plugs in a joystick and moves it around. The chair reclines all the way past 45 degrees to 75 degrees, allowing the correct flat head position for the patient and the correct seated working position for the dental team.

According to the manufacturer, the diaco dental chair reduces clinical risk and lessens patient trauma. Although services for the handicapped require ongoing improvement, the device is one step towards offering suitable treatment to every patient.

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