LDBDA : 5739

dental unit

a Ritter dental unit, produced in Germany around 1930. This unit features a cable drive drill spittoon, bracket table with gas jet, various sprays, intra oral light and cautery.

The earliest dental units consisted of a bracket table attached to the dental chair or a standalone instrument table. In 1915 S.S. White introduced the first dental unit to contain all the operative equipment required by the dentist. It contained a cuspidor, bracket table, electrically operated accessories and connections for compressed air and gas. The first Ritter unit was available in 1917. It was similar in design to the S.S. White unit but contained more electrical accessories. By the 1930s many different variations of the dental unit were being manufactured but all were designed to be used by a dentist in a standing position. The unit continued in this design until the 1950s when the concept of sit down dentistry was introduced.

Ritter Dental Manufacturing Company circa1930

metal, glass, cord;