211 custom-made Sinius treatment centers for Otago University
Training and educating the next generation of dental professionals is an important component for improving oral health worldwide. Otago University in New Zealand chose Dentsply Sirona as its partner in building a brand new facility.
The city of Dunedin lies on the picturesque central-eastern coast of Otago surrounded by the remnants of an extinct volcano. The second-largest city on New Zealand’s South island, Dunedin is also home to the country’s oldest university, the University of Otago. The university is in the process of upgrading its dentistry school through a massive 130 million New Zealand Dollar (USD 85 million) two-phase project. The recently completed first phase involved constructing a high-tech, four-story facility complete with CAD/CAM technology, an assessment and extraction suite, a radiography suite, and a considerable amount of treatment bays that will serve both students and the university clinic’s 70,000 patients on record.
It was an incredible experience to work on this project for the University of Otago. We were able to provide them with not only the equipment they needed built to their specifications, but also the expertise to help them achieve their vision of a world-class facility designed unlike any other dental school in the world. Their idea to build everything with the patient experience in the foreground was a natural fit to our own commitment to putting the customer first."
In 2018, the University of Otago put out an invitation for bids to equip their new dental clinic. The university wanted to do something unique among dental school clinics by building its new facility entirely around the patient experience. Dentsply Sirona was chosen thanks to the capabilities of the International Special Clinic Solutions Team, who are the only ones in the industry able to provide a complete solution from the ground up and supply all of the equipment needed. Peter Rössling, Director International Special Clinic Solutions, traveled back and forth between Bensheim, Germany, and Dunedin in order to understand the particular needs of the university team and to advise them on the project.
The new facility would be equipped with 211 brand new Sinius treatment centers as well as a bariatric chair that had to meet some very specific needs and allow for all services to be connected to New Zealand standards for their electronic health records system. The treatment centers needed to be made specifically for the Faculty of Dentistry’s requirements not only to fit general dentistry but orthodontics, pediatrics, and other specialized care. Sinius treatment centers were chosen and Dentsply Sirona provided all of the equipment needed for the clinic. In addition to the treatment centers, a full complement of approximately 2,000 instruments from Dentsply Sirona will be used as well as 2D and 3D-imaging devices.
Before custom-building this large order in Bensheim, a prototype was tested extensively in a mock-up of the clinic’s new treatment bays to ensure that it worked well for staff and students as the treatment centers would be central to the teaching environment in addition to performing their usual functions.
The new facility’s layout benefits patients and clinicians alike.
Innovative treatment centers full of functionality
Each Sinius treatment center has an integrated computer, enabling patient records to be viewed on the screen as well as the results of digital X-rays and scans. The units have a computerized self-cleaning system to ensure infection prevention standards are easily followed and stringently adhered to. The treatment centers are also monitored by chair management software (VIONEX) so that any maintenance needs can be quickly addressed.
The new facility has the infrastructure and equipment to work with electronic patient records connected to New Zealand’s Titanium system. Until now, only patients’ names, contact details and financial records were kept electronically by the university clinic. Everything else required that paper files be taken from place to place as patients were assessed and treated. Electronic records are efficient both from a clinician’s standpoint and better academic oversight by ensuring that students are matched with a diverse group of patients and cases to fill any gaps in their training. The patients also benefit from the added transparency of knowing what their treatment is going to cost and being able to discuss it beforehand. Of course, data protection is guaranteed at all times.
The layout of the new building is inviting and open while still giving patients privacy. The design is truly focused on making the patient experience outstanding while enabling greater collaboration within the dental school across disciplines. This helps the university to more easily develop new curricula as technology advances and disciplines evolve.
Dentsply Sirona saw the project through from its earliest stages to the grand opening.
The logistics of installing over 200 treatment centers
The new treatment centers are installed on the first three floors of the new facility. The first floor is dedicated to specialist workstations while the second and third floors contain the treatment bays mainly used for the public and where students will work. Dentsply Sirona flew members of a local, experienced medical engineering company to Bensheim in two groups to provide factory training for installing the
treatment centers. As opening day approached, technicians from Germany that are part of the Special Projects Team joined the effort and spent a total of two months in New Zealand. Dentsply Sirona also trained a group of super-users to learn the full capability of the state-of-the-art treatment centers and their associated equipment. These super-users then ran training sessions for other staff and students.
This was an incredible project to be a part of not just for its scale but also for its potential impact. The University of Otago dental clinic staff and students perform roughly 76,000 treatments annually. Providing state-of-the-art equipment that enables the best possible patient care while facilitating a high quality education for the next generation of dentists is a worthy endeavor. Looking to the future, the International Special Clinic Solutions Team aims to use their collaboration with the University of Otago as a model for helping dental schools around the world modernize their facilities and refocus the clinical experience onto patients.
Header-Picture at the top of the page: Looking forward to a promising partnership between the University of Otago and Dentsply Sirona (from left to right): Jörg Vogel, Vice President Sales, International Special Clinic Solutions Team; Peter Cathro, University of Otago, and Peter Rössling, Director International Special Clinic Solutions.