What’s The Best AED For Dental Offices?

One of the most important places for an automated external defibrillator (AED) to be located is in dentist offices. Dental offices see a variety of patients and perform unique operations where medical emergencies can occur. Having the best AED for your dental office on-site will prove crucial in a moment of need. Furthermore, being prepared with an AED will put you and your office at ease knowing you are well equipped.

To help you choose the best AED, we’ve picked out our best recommendations, reviewed, and ranked them. You can also find links to purchase them on our website in each review.

Are AED’s required in dental offices?

The American Dental Association (ADA) recommends dentists and dental hygienists be knowledgeable in the proper use of an AED. In order to maintain their medical license, dentists are required to be trained in CPR and AED use every two years.

Depending on your location, AED regulations can vary. States such as Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Tennessee, and Washington require dentists that perform any kind of sedation to have an AED in their office. Meanwhile, Texas and New York require AEDs for dental offices to be available regardless of whether or not sedation is used in their office.

Regardless of current laws in your state, it is important to have a portable defibrillator at the ready – particularly for those using sedation. Although it’s a rare occurrence, sedation can lead to sudden cardiac arrest and all dentists should be prepared to handle this at some point during their career practicing medicine. Furthermore, each year states add more requirements and recommendations for best practices. While your state may not require an AED now, it likely will in the future.

What’s The Best AED for Dental Offices?

Universally, AEDs perform the same function. However, there are a plethora of choices on the market with various bells and whistles. Let’s help you figure out what may suit your office best.

For dental offices, we suggest considering these main features:

• Ease of use: When purchasing an AED for your dental office, you want to make sure that the one you get is capable of being used easily by any of your staff members. It’s possible in a cardiac arrest scenario that the dentist may be using ACLS skills while a hygienist performs CPR, and another person operates the AED.
• Warranty: When you invest in a product like this you will want to make sure the product offers a fair amount of time under warranty.
• Lifetime cost: There is an upfront cost to purchase an AED and a cost to maintain them. Similar to cars, a more expensive product up front may cost you less over time.
• Data Storage: Kind of like an airplane black box, some AED’s will retain memory of the events that occur and store the data. This information can be incredibly useful in helping a survivors medical team see the heart rhythms recorded during an emergency. The information can also be useful to reflect on the emergency response protocol and improve future emergency outcomes.

Best Dental Office AEDs Compared

Here are the top three AED’s we recommend for dentist offices.

Product Name	Features
HeartSine Samaritan PAD 350P	Child-friendly Pediatric cartridge, 90 minutes internal memory for ECG and event recording, and CPR coaching with a built-in metronome
Physio-Control Lifepak CR Plus	Unique escalating shock technology, automatic self-testing, and ECG data storage with wireless transmission capability.
Cardiac Science Powerheart G5	Adult & Pediatric defibrillation pads, ECG and event data, customizable Intellisense CPR guidance, and bilingual capabilities

Top 3 AEDs for Dental Offices Reviewed

Read below for more details on each of the top three AED products listed above.

1. HeartSine Samaritan PAD 350P

The HeartSine Samaritan PAD 350P is an AED with a very clean and simple design. This AED is what we see purchased most often by dentists. If AED’s were a product of toothpaste companies, this one was clearly made by Crest. The AED is very user-friendly, easy to understand, and provides step-by-step instructions for the rescue team throughout the entire rescue process.

The Samaritan PAD 350P has a simple two-button operation that you flick on to activate and then press the “Shock” button when advised. Set up and maintenance are easy with the pad and battery replacement coupled in one Pad-Pak cartridge. The Pad-Pak can last for up to four years and only has one expiration date to keep in mind.

The Heartsine Samaritan AED can be used for pediatric patients if you work in a pediatric dentist office or a dentist office that sees children. In order to use the AED for a child you simply swap out its standard Adult Pad-Pak for the Pediatric Pad-Pak cartridge.

The HeartSine Samaritan PAD 350P costs $1,315 and comes with a rigid carry case to make it easily portable when needed. It has an 8 year warranty and an estimated lifetime cost of $2,129 making this the most affordable AED over time.

2. Physio-Control Lifepak CR Plus

The Physio-Control Lifepak CR Plus features advanced technology. Physio-Control is constantly innovating and responding to new studies in the technology. This brand is trusted and renowned by emergency medical professionals across the world. While the Lifepak CR Plus AED is sophisticated, it is simple to use and is designed for anyone to be able to use. However, with advanced technology it’s ideal for environments like dental offices where some staff have more medical experience.

For dental offices we only recommend AED’s that are fully automatic. The Lifepak CR Plus is fully automatic and follows a quick two-step process to use. Rescuers simply need to follow the prompts to use at a basic level. However, the Lifepak CR Plus also gives capability to escalate the shock delivered to as high as 360 joules when necessary.

The Lifepak CR Plus is simple to maintain. Both its battery charger and electrodes operate on a synchronized replacement cycle that let you maintain it efficiently and affordably.

The Physio-Control Lifepak CR Plus costs $1,895, comes standard with sets of adult electrode pads, and a semi-rigid carry case. This AED comes with an 8 year warranty and has an estimated lifetime cost of $2,559. While the Lifepak is more expensive than the previous AED we discussed, it offers some innovative and unique technology that dentist offices may find worth the additional cost.

3. Cardiac Science Powerheart G5

Cardiac Science is a reknowned brand and the maker of the Powerheart G5 AED for dental offices. The Powerheart G5 AED is designed for both inexperienced and experienced rescuers. The AED incorporates advanced technology in the form of Intellisense CPR (ICPR) that provides operators with guideline-driven feedback in real-time.

This ICPR technology displays corrective prompts that will guide rescuers of any skill level to perform high quality CPR during an emergency. ICPR analyzes and keeps track of each compression applied and provides feedback in both voice and text format. If anyone has ever had to give critical feedback during an emergency, you know it can be awkward. This technology takes that responsibility away and allows your team to focus on the person needing your help.

Another feature that the Powerheart G5 uses is RescueCoach which provides user-paced prompts, guiding rescuers each step of the way. This feature also provides CPR instruction to promote optimal results. Similar to the Intellisense CPR technology, RescueCoach monitors the actions of the rescuer to ensure that they accomplish each vital task accordingly.

Dentists traveling with groups like Doctors Without Borders may also find the bilingual feature useful here. Users can change to an alternate language with just a touch of a button at any point during the rescue. Providing users with CPR instruction and rescue prompts in a familiar language dramatically increases the liklihood of a good outcome.

The Powerheart G5 costs $1,820, is available in either semi or fully automatic, and comes with several add-ons. This AED comes with an 8 year warranty and has an estimated lifetime cost of $2,899.

Conclusion

An automated external defibrillator is an important asset for dental offices because when a cardiac emergency arises, it can be the reason a patient survives sudden cardiac arrest.

Although there are many user-friendly portable defibrillators available, the three that we have listed in this article are some of the best AEDs for dental offices you can have today. If you are looking for AED’s that are for use in other environments or situations, be sure to check out our latest sales on AED’s or explore our financing options here.