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Clinical Innovations
The Apple Tree Mobile Dental Office
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Apple Tree helped create new mobile dental equipment in 2001 with the help of
a group of dental manufactures and distributors. The A-dec company, headquartered in Newberg, Oregon, designed the new
equipment from the bottom up, using a three-wheeled base and standard parts to reduce maintenance and repair problems.
Ken Austin, owner of A-dec, took the lead in creating a complete mobile dental office for every day use. He had input from
Apple Tree along the way to make sure the equipment was both mobile and durable. For patients, the new equipment provides
greater comfort and for the dental team, it provides better ergonomics and many new advanced technologies, such as
digital x-rays and plasma arc light curing units.
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Teledentistry
Since 2003, Apple Tree has been involved in projects to increase access to oral health care services,
especially in rural Minnesota, by expanding the role of hygienists in the delivery of preventive care services and establishing
telehealth links with dentists. The goal is to reduce travel time from rural areas and increase the likelihood that those least
able to commute, such as low-income children and the elderly, will be able to obtain needed care. Apple Tree is also striving
to develop a new distance learning program for licensed hygienists interested in working in nursing homes, schools, or Head Start
centers under new “collaborative agreement” legislation and for expanded functions restorative training for experienced dental
hygienists and dental assistants. We are also interested in studying the quality of care under these new care delivery models.
For more information, see the section on Educational Collaborations. |
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