Continental Delivery Systems: A Growing Trend

A style of dental delivery system that has been popular for some time in Europe is rapidly gaining acceptance in North America. The ‘Continental’ style delivery system is a delivery system in which the handpiece tubings come up over the top of the control unit, and are routed within a spring loaded arm. This contrasts the ‘Traditional’ delivery system in which the handpiece tubings drape under the dental control unit.

There are several factors which make this a desirable system. The weight of the tubing is held by an arm and spring, so handpieces feel lighter and more maneuverable. In addition, there is no risk of dropping the handpiece and having it fall to the ground; the spring arm will guide the handpiece back into its position on the control unit.

This is great in terms of infection control (not having a handpiece on the dirty floor), but also dramatically reduces the chance of damage to the tool from hitting the floor. This is certainly important for high speed handpieces, but also for items like intraoral cameras and curing lights, which are increasingly being integrated into the control head. Also, the units tend to look neater, as the tubings are not rubbing on the ground when the control unit is moved around in the operatory.

In the past, there have been negatives associated with this type of system-notably that water would drain out of the tubings and leak onto the floor. In recent years dental equipment manufacturers have improved the water control valves, and this problem has been eliminated.

Due to the vertical size of the spring arms, Continental delivery is only suitable for chair mounted, or ‘over the patient’ control units. Users of side delivery or rear delivery systems will have to stick with the Traditional system. As more and more dentists are exposed to this style of tubing routing, I predict that the popularity will continue to grow. This just might be a trend that sticks around for a little while.