Dental radiographs for the homebound.

Portable dental engines have been available to the profession for many years. Compact “portable dental offices,” with combined engine, soiirce of light, suction, and air-pressure, permit the dentist to bring a full range of dental services to the shut-in patient, right in his home. Unfortunately, most dental care at home is carried out without the aid of radiographs. “Portable” x-ray units, it is true, have been availabl’e, but portable only for the extremely hardy practitioner. ll’eights of 75 to 100 or more pounds were not uncommon for such machines. The need for radiographs usually has been answered by bringing the patient somehow, at least once, to the private office or clinic. For the patient \vho just could not bc moved, there has been no simple technic. Highland l-ie\v Hospital’s Dental Home Care and Out Patient Program* has been providing dcntal service to shut-in patients now for more than five years. For the past many months, the program has been testing an extremely versatile portable x-rav unit-the Serend-20. The entire unit, (including the stand, the generator and two carrying cases), weighs but 34 pounds. It is ideally suited for iise in private home or in nursing homes since it is lightweight, simple to put together for operating or for collapsing for packing and entirely safe to use.** The machine was tested for safety by the Ohio State Department of Health and \vas found to lie well within the &its and standards set forth by the National Bureau of Standards in Handbook No. 76. The generator is suspended from a four-legged telescoping stand. The unit can be raised, lowered, swiveled. or angled to adjust to the position of the patient’s head. Tl’ithin a matter of five minutes, the stand can be assembled, the generator attached, an aluminum filter and coliunnator positioned, and the machine plugged into any common household electric outlet. A remote electronic timer permits the operator to avoid the source of radiation. Figure 1 shows the assembled equipment. KO difference in radiographic quality has been noted between the radiographs produced by the portable unit and those produced by the standard equipment in an office. Quite frequently an immediate examination of a radiograph is necessary to permit a dental procedure at the patient’s residence. A Clarus Daylight Processing Unit has been used bv the Home Care Program to permit rapid developing of exposed films (Figure-2). The Clarus Unit is but 11 inches by five inches