Different Kinds of Dental Chairs

The nature of dentistry--getting a good look inside the patient's mouth--requires the patient to be lower than the doctor. Thus mankind has tinkered for centuries with the optimum dental chair design. From baroque Victorian designs to the foot controls and adjustable headrests of modern technology, many types of dental chairs have graced the ages.

Historical Chairs

• Dental chairs have a unique history, one that has produced functional pieces, artistic creations, and mad scientist-like oddities. Victorian dental chairs from the 1880s resemble an inspired amalgamation of a torture device and a knitting loom. In 1928, Ritter Dental introduced the first motor-operated dental chair. An improvement over the manually adjusted chairs of the past, the chair was improved by Ritter through the 1930s, and served as a precursor to modern chairs. Dentist chairs of the 1970s, though similar to today's chairs, provided less mobility, and resembled reclining leather pieces often found in period living rooms.

Modern Chairs

• Modern dental chairs, produced by manufacturers like Belmont, A-dec, Beaverstate, and DCI Equipment, are defined by competing comforts, attachments, and range of mobility. Chairs of the modern era are often offered as part of a larger office set, which includes a rolling chair for the dentist, a sink, and lights. On the modern market, electromechanical chairs compete with hydraulically powered chairs, providing different engine types for chair mobility. Modern dental chairs are also designed to be ergonomically sound, to provide both the easiest working environment for the dentist and optimal comfort for the patient.

Futuristic Chair

• Chinese company Chengli Hung's prototype chair has all the necessary dental equipment attached to the chair's white base, shaped like a crescent moon. The bright-yellow chair itself sits perpendicular to the body, giving the appearance of the patient sitting on the edge of the crescent moon and dangling his feet over the edge. It's not unlike something from the living room of the space-age Jetsons cartoon family.