Sydney dentist says new A-dec 500 with Advanced Air a “game changer”

By David Petrikas

A Sydney-based dentist and his colleague are among a select number of dental professionals from around the world invited to trial the all-new A-dec® 500 chair and revolutionary W&H Advanced Air system. Dr Thomas Choi and Dr Alice Im from West Ryde Dental Clinic in Sydney’s northwest trialled both an earlier pre-production model and the final version of the breakthrough new model A-dec 500 dental unit which was released in Australia on August 1. The pair took part in a program conducted over several months, designed to gain valuable feedback from dentists about A-dec’s biggest product launch in 15 years.

Both Dr Choi and Dr Im were mightily impressed with the new A-dec 500, which features an effortless and well-equipped delivery system and the world’s first “Advanced Air” turbine system from W&H. Dr Choi, who loves his current model A-dec 300 and A-dec 400 chairs, summed up the new A-dec 500 this way: “Once you’ve driven a Ferrari, it’s pretty hard to go back to a normal car”. “There’s not a thing I don’t like about this chair and it’s all the little things that add up. As a reputable brand that is already known to be reliable and easy-to-use, it’s definitely the most comfortable and easiest chair to use out of all the A-dec range.

“I already have A-dec 400’s and an A-dec 300 chair which I absolutely love and I have no qualms using, but the new A-dec 500 is 100% better,” Dr Choi said. He added that patients are very comfortable on the A-dec 500 and the quilted upholstery was very plush and the A-dec 500 gliding headrest design was superior to other chairs. “We liked the A-dec 500 headrest so much we now have the same headrest on our A-dec 400 chair because it is so good.”

Intelligent control

The new A-dec 500 has an improved pivoting delivery arm and air brake system as well as a radically re-designed control head with six instrument positions. It features an in-built capacitive switch in the handle that automatically releases the brake when the handle is touched and then reapplies the brake when released, holding the delivery system securely in position with no drifting. “You can just grab the delivery head and put it where you want it without giving it any thought and without reaching over to the other side and pushing a button to move it like other chairs,” Dr Choi said.

“I especially love that you can move the new A-dec 500 Deluxe Plus touchpad from side to side and the new icons for the various functions. It doesn’t require any explanation. It is quite intuitive.” Dr Choi also appreciated the ergonomic design of the A-dec 500’s thin and flexible backrest, which is perfect for patient comfort and allows the dentist to work in an ideal position closer to the patient without bending over a bulky backrest or clunky headrest. He also purchased matching ergonomically designed A-dec 500 dentist and assistant stools for the dental team.

Advanced Air turbine

One of the most notable features of all on the new chair, however, is the revolutionary new W&H Advanced Air system that combines the lightness and tactile feel of an air turbine with the power normally only found in an electric motor. “Advanced Air will be universally approved of by dentists. It’s noticeably different. I can’t get over how light and comfortable it is. It really is ‘light as air’ whereas other handpieces feel like they’re full of solid metal as they are that heavy to hold.

“The Advanced Air turbine cuts so much cleaner and easier. It definitely reduces fatigue and treatment time and if you’ve got a busy day, that’s probably the most important thing. In addition, if you have to cut off a crown, it’s so noisy cutting with a normal turbine, but the Advanced Air is so much quieter and easier in comparison. Patients probably don’t notice the difference in the new chair as much as we as dentists do, but less treatment time makes the patients happy too.”

Dr Choi said he could see himself using Advanced Air for most procedures. “We do crowns, fillings, orthodontics, literally anything. And the A-dec 500 controller also has an Endo function for use with an electric motor and endo handpiece”.

Second opinion

Dr Alice Im, who is another senior dentist at West Ryde Dental Clinic, was similarly impressed with the new model A-dec 500 chair. “The A-dec 500 is a lot more comfortable. We love the gliding headrest, which is very easy to adjust. Other chairs have a knob that is hard to tighten and loosen whereas this just slides into position with one easy lever action.

“There are also a lot of small details that make the A-dec 500 a really nice chair to use. I like the individual indicator lights on the adjustment knobs to change the air and water settings so you know which handpiece you are adjusting. “I also like the clip-in bracket table which I use when I do my band-ups as there’s lots of braces and bands and fiddly things which you don’t want to loose that you can put on the tray and then take it off again when you don’t need it.”

The game changer for Dr Im, however, was the Advanced Air turbine system, which was more comfortable to use because it was literally “as light as air” and also reduced treatment time. “The Advanced Air is great. It cuts like butter and I also think it increases patient comfort. Sometimes a heavy amalgam filling vibrates the patient’s head even when they’re numb, whereas Advanced Air just glides through the filling and they don’t feel a thing. It will literally change how you do your fillings. In five minutes you’re done,” Dr Im said.

Complete control

Unlike normal air turbines, the W&H Advanced Air turbine speed can be set and controlled from 60,000 rpm to 320,000 rpm to match the procedure being performed, even with pressure on the bur. The other advantage of the precise control of the Advanced Air system is being able to run burs at their optimum speed. This avoids overheating and greatly extends bur life, resulting in superior and sustained cutting performance.

The set speed of the Advanced Air system is maintained by a tiny senor in the turbine head, which is connected to a control module in the chair that acts like a ‘cruise control’ for the turbine. This eliminates bur overrun and the bogging experienced with normal turbines during cutting. Consequently, the Advanced Air system is extremely quiet in operation and does not produce the oscillating whine often associated with high-speed turbines when the bur comes on and off load and during feathering of the turbine.

The W&H Advanced Air system is available exclusively on the new model A-dec 500 chair, which is available from authorised A-dec dealers around Australia.