The Friends of Bexhill and Conquest Hospitals, have kindly donated over £33,000 worth of specialised disability dentistry equipment for use by wheelchair users and bariatric patients, to our Community Dental Service, based at the Arthur Blackman Clinic in St Leonards.
The equipment consists of a compact platform that is designed to treat patients in their own wheelchairs. When reclined it places the patient’s head in an optimum position for the comfort of the patient and for ease of the operating dentist. A bariatric bench is for those patients whose weight exceeds the safe working load of the dental chair. The bench is a removable seat which is added to the wheelchair platform changing the platform into a wide dental couch with full seating and back support. A shifter base was also purchased to allow a standard dental chair to be used in the same clinic space. The shifter base allows for the clinic to be transformed for the different equipment needs.
A universal headrest was also purchased. The headrest helps patients whose heads are not in alignment with their spine and cannot use the central head support. Good head support is critical in dentistry, to allow intricate treatment like root canal work to take place.
Leona Toner, Head of the Community Dental services at ESHT said: “Collectively this equipment will improve the safety and comfort for patients in wheelchairs. It will allow better access to dental care for patients with differing needs in the one clinic room. Also it will be beneficial for staff in reducing the manual handling issues for all of these patient groups.
“It is very exciting and a great joy to have this investment in our service to help us deliver patient centred care. Therefore on behalf of the wider Community Dental Services Team, I would like to convey our gratitude to the Friends of Bexhill and Conquest Hospitals for the purchase of the disability dentistry equipment, and the support for the team in delivering better oral care.”