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Planning

Planning a dental simulation lab: the checklist

From the number of phantom head workstations to the cable route inside the treatment unit — eight points to settle before a tender goes out.

Basis for planning

What planning a dental simulation lab settles

Planning a dental simulation lab settles three things before any equipment is ordered: the number of phantom head workstations, the image sources at each individual position, and the routes by which their image reaches all the other monitors.

A laboratory of this kind is planned together with the manufacturer of the treatment units. The plan therefore takes shape in two places at once: the units determine where a monitor can hang and where a cable can run, and the transmission system determines which image arrives there.

The eight points on this page follow the order in which they come up in conversation — first the room and the positions, then the sources, then the routes and the control. Where a detail has yet to be settled internally, the floor plan is enough for a first quotation; the rest can follow.

Checklist

Eight points to a specification

Each point ends with the details that have to come from your institution. Once they are together, the tender can go out.

  1. Count the phantom head workstations

    Count every position that carries a monitor — including the positions of a later construction phase. That number determines the layout: a star reaches up to 100 workstations via satellites, a ring up to 50 student positions.

    • Positions in the classroom with their own monitor
    • Positions in adjacent rooms that should be included
    • Positions from a later construction phase

  2. Define the instructor position

    The instructor position is the point from which the system is operated. Whether it holds a complete treatment unit or only a desk with a computer changes the number of inputs at that point — and the question of whether a second position is provided for an assistant.

    • Treatment unit at the instructor position or a desk
    • Second position for an assistant or a guest lecturer
    • Large display in addition to the workstation monitors

  3. Name the image sources at each position

    A phantom head workstation often carries several image sources side by side: a computer, an intraoral camera and a microscope camera. Every source that should be shown to the class needs an input of its own; which source is planned at which position determines how the box is equipped.

    • Computer at the position — PC or thin client
    • Intraoral camera on the treatment unit
    • Camera output on the microscope
    • Visualiser or document camera in the room

  4. Check sightlines and monitor position

    The monitor at the workstation takes over the sightline that otherwise runs across the room to the instructor. Where it hangs decides whether the student can see it without lifting their head out of the working field. Size, height and swivel range therefore belong in the plan before the mounts are ordered.

    • Monitor size and height above the treatment unit
    • Swivel arm or fixed mount
    • No glare from the operating light
    • Sightline to the instructor position that should stay clear

  5. Settle the cable routes

    Picture and sound run over dedicated cabling, not over the building's data network. Each line runs from the workstation to the central unit, through a raised floor, a cable duct or a ceiling suspension; which channels the treatment units bring with them is clarified by their manufacturer. Over long runs, extenders and repeaters recondition the video signal.

    • Raised floor, floor box or ceiling route
    • Free channels inside the treatment units
    • Location of the central unit: in the room or in a technical cabinet
    • Runs on which a repeater is provided

  6. Connect a live treatment room

    A treatment room can be connected to the same lab and switched as a source like any workstation. What needs settling is the line to it, the sources in the room itself and the question of who starts the transmission — the instructor in the lab or the staff at the chair.

    • Route and length between the treatment room and the lab
    • Cameras and microscope in the treatment room
    • Control in the lab, at the chair or in both places
    • Sound from the treatment room into the classroom

  7. Choose the control

    The system is operated from a touchscreen, a system keyboard, a tablet or an existing media control system over RS232. The tablet connects to the system directly over Bluetooth and joins no network; the system keyboard needs no power supply of its own and its key layout can be matched to the seating plan of the room.

    • Fixed control unit at the instructor position
    • Mobile control during the class
    • Existing media control system to be integrated
    • Key labelling following the seating plan

  8. Provide for extension

    Extensions concern the cabling first, not the equipment. Whether positions, a second classroom or a further treatment room are added later therefore belongs in the first discussion: spare lines, empty conduits and room in the central unit can then be planned in from the start.

    • Planned second construction phase
    • Spare lines and empty conduits
    • Room in the central unit for further modules
    • Second classroom to be linked later

Tendering

Details for the specification

These lines describe the alphadidact® Digital transmission system that connects the positions. They can be taken into a specification unchanged.

System layout
Star up to 100 workstations, ring up to 50 student positions
Connection between the boxes
DVI-D (HDMI signal, with audio)
Type of transmission
Uncompressed — no encoding, no buffering
Sources per workstation
PC or thin client, intraoral camera, microscope camera
Long runs
Extenders and repeaters on DVI, without a network
Building data network
Not involved; picture and sound run over dedicated cabling
Software at the workstations
None — the function sits in the boxes
Control
Touchscreen, system keyboard, tablet over Bluetooth, RS232
Warranty
3 years, extendable to 5 years
Development and manufacture
Heusenstamm near Frankfurt

Details of treatment units, monitors and cameras come from their respective manufacturer; this table describes the transmission system alone.

Case studies

Laboratories planned this way

Each report states the number of simulation positions, the sources connected and the control used — useful as a comparison for your own planning.

Next step

Going through the planning together

A first layout needs the floor plan and the number of phantom head workstations planned. From those come the system layout, the cable list and a quotation; coordination with the manufacturer of the treatment units runs in parallel.

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EBS Euchner, Heusenstamm near Frankfurt — manufactured in house since 1984, three years of warranty, extendable to five years.