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HAND IN HAND TOWARDS
DENTAL DEGREE

With whom do dental students spend most time with?
Or should it be rephrased “with what”?

Thousands of dental students around the world have worked with Proactive care protects
a Planmeca dental unit during their studies. Why are these units
As an environment for practicing dentistry, a university clinic is

so often chosen as the first working partner for the dental profes- somewhat special. The lifecycle of the dental unit in a teaching clinic

sionals of the future? We visited Dublin Dental School and Hospital tends to be shorter than in a regular clinic.

(DDSH) to find out about their relationship with Planmeca units. “Teaching clinic is hard surroundings for a dental unit,” tells
Mr James Swan, Facilities Manager at DDSH. As the students don’t
Student’s best friend own the equipment, they may be relatively rough on them. “Indeed,

In their present form, the Planmeca Compact series dental units the units get a lot of use – and of abuse,” avouches clinic’s Maintenance
are a result of 15 years of product development: Prostyle Compact Supervisor Mr Declan Clark.

launched at IDS in 1995 was the first “I think Planmeca dental equipment

20 model of the series, and the most is exceptional,” praises Clark, who has

modern model, Planmeca Compact i worked at the hospital for 37 years –

with new control panel, was launched enough years to see every make of

in 2009. By the spring of 2010, Planmeca a dental equipment there is.

has delivered more than 2700 Planmeca Swan and Clark are responsible for

Compact series dental units for teach­ing unit servicing and ensuring that the

institutions. equipment is up and running, with

Dublin Dental School and Hospital a minimum downtime. In their opinion,

has had their Prostyle Compact units the key word to guarantee a long

for thirteen years. lifes­­ pan for a dental unit is preventive

“I have taught here since 1999, and in maintenance. “In the long term, preven­

my opinion our Prostyle Compacts have tive maintenance is much more cost-ef-

done a good job and are still performing fective than reactive. There’s no doubt in

very well, considering the heavy use,” my mind, that we wouldn’t have the
says Dr Osama Omer, Senior Lecturer
dental units working the way they are, if

Consultant at DDSH. we hadn’t invested in preventive mainte­
Dr Saoirse O'Toole who has
nance,” states Swan.

studied at the university for five years What does this preventive main­

and is now employed by the school tenance mean? In addition to simply

accom­panies: "They are very workable addressing the service calls caused by

chairs." technical issues, the maintenance team

During the time of purchase, it was replaces unit parts at regular intervals

a big step for DDSH to change from the before they actually need replacing.

traditional hanging tubes concept to Preventive maintenance is a way to pro-

the balanced instruments concept. actively service the units. For instance

The balanced in­strument arms allows mini­mised hand, arm and body operating light bulbs can be changed before they reach service limits.

movements, resulting in a much more ergonomic way of working. In Dublin the service team replaced all polymerisation lights at once

Dublin Dental School and Hospital has a certified infection control after encountering several of them reaching the end of their lifespan.

protocol. The dental unit hygiene and infection control features have This means servicing can be done cost-effectively, without inter­

also been developed over the years in cooperation with Planmeca to ruptions to patient care. Furthermore, the team monitors the state of

make the dental unit cleaning procedures as easy as possible. the units and records the use and the maintenance calls.