Dentaid Surgeries

Dentaid’s primary resource operation is supplying complete dental surgeries for regional dental treatment centres, using dental equipment that is donated to us from UK dental practices and NHS Trusts, and then fully refurbished by our specialist engineers. A typical Dentaid surgery consists of all the equipment you would expect to find in a UK dental surgery.  

 Dental chair
 Dental light
 Compressor
 Suction unit
 Delivery unit
 Fast and slow hand-pieces
 Autoclave - steriliser
 Water-distiller (purchased new)
 Amalgamator
 Light cure unit
 Ultra-sonic scaler
 Full set of instruments and burs
 Uniforms
 Stools for dentist and nurse
(X-ray units and X-ray developers can also be provided if requested.) 

All Dentaid equipment is refurbished by our specialist engineers to an "as new" quality, with worn components replaced with new parts. Dentaid also heavily modifies some items of equipment, often replacing unnecessarily complex electronic circuitry with simple relay systems to promote longevity and ease of repair. Dentaid also manufactures brackets to attach the lights to the chair rather than hanging from the walls or ceiling – impractical in many overseas clinics.

Finally, all the equipment is designed to be as far as possible “plug in and go”. Dentaid provides a picture based manual graphically showing the main connections to be made. A Dentaid surgery can be installed and ready to see patients normally within a couple of hours of arrival.

Crating and shipping Every item in the surgery is individually wrapped in bubble-wrap at Dentaid's workshop. Dentaid then commissions a packing company to professionally crate the surgeries in a purpose-made crate to ensure that the surgery is not damaged in transit. Crating is compulsory.

Through our shipping company, Dentaid can ship equipment to any international port. It is the responsibility of the recipient to organise customs clearance, payment of any duties and transportation within recipient country. Dentaid will not ship equipment until we have ensured that all these issues are dealt with and all necessary certification in hand.

Funding

Dentaid heavily subsidises the equipment operation through its own fundraising activities – typically by about 50%. The recipient clinic or NGO/charity sponsor is asked to provide the remaining funds at the following levels:-

£2450 towards refurbishment costs.   
£  195 crating
£  600 – £1800 depending on country and method of shipping (sea freight or air freight).

£3,245 - £4,455 total

(In the UK, equipping a surgery to this standard (albeit with more modern equipment although same functionality) typically costs between £20,000 - £30,000), before shipping.