History of the Dental Engine

In the field of dentistry, all of the tools the dentist has at hand are powered by a central operating station known as the dental engine. The dental engine is the device that provides both pneumatic and mechanical power for tools including the drill, suction hose, and air/water gun. Depending on the model, they can be separate or integrated to the chair. Older models included a small spit-sink for the patient, but the advent of suction has largely eliminated that feature.

Some of the finest dental engines were created by the Ritter Dental Company. Ritter Dental was founded in the 1870s by Frank Ritter, an industrious German immigrant determined to make a living. Never leaving his bench, money saved from three years of dedicated effort was put toward starting his own business.
Ironically, Frank started out by manufacturing parlor furniture, but change came in 1887. Ritter, a clever businessman, was always looking to invest some of his profits into other ventures. One of these opportunities happened with the arrival of Dewell Stuck of Big Rapids, Michigan. The two quickly got to work and built the first 50 models after several development delays. Happily, the chair was well received by the dental community for its innovative mechanism and disc base.

After the success of the chairs, Ritter’s crowning achievement happened around the turn of the century when in 1895, Oscar and Alfonse Pieper offered Ritter plans to a revolutionary dental engine. Ritter had done it again. This new dental engine was a huge improvement over the old foot pump models that would cause the dentist to tire. In addition, the motor was suspended so the dentist had a much wider range of movement and speed control. Ritter’s engine was also ahead of its time in that it was powered by the grid, whereas some earlier devices ran off batteries.

The engine underwent a few changes over the next few years following the original, particularly the development of the alternating current-compatible with speed regulation in 1899. As time went on, development of pneumatic equipment led the engine to incorporate an air compressor, starting in 1914. In 1915, the introduction of the Distributing Panel allowed both air-powered and electric equipment to run off the same engine.

All in all, what will the dental engine of the future look like? One need not look far, but at the current developments of Ritter Dental for a glimpse of progress.

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