The dental suction system is one of the most important elements within a Dental Unit. The first time this concept was discussed was in 1961, when the German manufacturer Dürr Dental made the first dental aspiration system.

This small invention completely transformed the way of working of dentists, who began to treat their patients horizontally instead of vertically. With this device, not only the hygiene of the process was improved, but also the ergonomics of the patient and the professional.

Dental suction system: Brief Definition

The dental aspiration system is one of the essential elements of any clinic or dental practice. Its main use is related to the reduction or elimination of cross contamination between the patient and the dentist through motors and aspiration systems.

Through this aspiration it is achieved that the cloud of microorganisms has a radius of less than 30 cm, which is a smaller average distance than that separating the professional from the patient.

The aspirator is a tube that is responsible for sucking the saliva that accumulates in the oral cavity of the patient and is composed of a cannula and a tube or tube of rubber.

How the dental chair aspiration system works

There are two types of dental suction: wet suction and dry suction.

In the wet suction system no air-liquid separators are placed in the dental equipment, and both the liquids and the air are taken to the suction system. In this system, the suction motor works in dry, but the same device has an air-water separator, more efficient than the one usually placed in dental equipment, which ensures that no type of liquid reaches the motor. The liquids are sent to a drain that must be placed in the engine room.

The dry suction system gets its name because the air-liquid separation is carried out in the dental equipment by means of a centrifugal or decanting separator. In this way, all the liquid is taken to a drain that must be located under each of the dental units of the clinic.

When separating the liquid in each of the equipment, we need a separator and a drain for equipment, but we do not need drainage in the clinic’s machine room, since only dry air arrives in the suction system.

What you should know about the dental aspiration system before equipping your clinic

The first and most important when equipping your clinic with a dental aspiration system is to know if you prefer a dry or wet suction system.

Once you have acquired your aspiration system, it is very important that you take into account its cleaning and maintenance. It should be cleaned every day with a disinfectant to avoid unpleasant odors and also that the system clogs and stops working.

In addition, another of the things that you should pay attention to from now on is the new European regulations on the amalgam separator. As of January 2019 it is mandatory for all dental clinics to separate the amalgam in the dental aspiration. That’s why, in ANCAR you can find appliances that already have the amalgam separator incorporated, making daily work much easier.