Portable dentistry, or for that matter, any field of mobile medicine, has always suffered from a lack of quality equipment that is affordable and can be carried around with ease. But here’s some respite for dentists at least. The Mantis is a chair that has all the usual properties of a dental chair plus some more. It can support patients of any height, as the headrest can be adjusted by moving it up or down. Also, the chair as a whole can be reclined to just about any angle for maximum comfort of the patients and ease of the doctors. But the buck doesn’t just stop at that.
The most endearing feature of this otherwise ordinary looking dental chair is its portability. The Mantis can be folded and then can even be used as a dolly for transporting other heavy equipment. That takes it at a par above other portable dental chairs that are currently available on the market. These chairs are not just big in size but are also heavy – physically as well as on the pocket! The Mantis, on the other hand, is made from such materials which are cheap and light, thus reducing the cost and weight of the product.
The chair has been created after much research in dental chairs and common folding chairs. The concepts were not just sketched but before the final model came into being, they were also tested through computer and live models. It thus promises to be a hi-tech, multi-purpose medical equipment that can be used in dentistry in particular but also in all other medical fields in general. The product if marketed properly has the potential to uplift the sagging field of portable medicine which reaches thousands of homes in far-flung rural areas every year.
Via: James Dyson Award