Magnets in dental chair headrests?

• by DC Pacer
• 2010-02-17 10:02:23
• General Posting
• 2638 views
• 3 comments

Most dental professionals have never thought that their dental chair could be a risk to patients with pacemakers or implantable defibrillators (ICDs). They need to think again. A few months ago, Boston Scientific, one of the major manufacturers of pacemakers/ICDs, added a new caution to their contraindications for dental patients. They warn that if a patient has a pacemaker/ICD, and the dental chair has a magnetic headrest with strength over 10 gauss, the patient should NOT sit in the chair.

The company states: “Some dental chairs contain magnets located in the headrest. If the pacemaker or defibrillator is programmed not to respond to a magnet, patients may sit in these chairs. If the implanted device is programmed to respond to a magnet and the magnet power is less than 10 gauss, patients may sit in these chairs. If the magnet power is greater than or equal to 10 gauss, patients should not sit in these chairs as the device function/programming may be affected.”

http://www.dentistryiq.com/index/display/article-display/7070967050/articles/dentisryiq/hygiene-department/Magnets-in-dental-chairs.html

Here is the article link - I posted the first two paragraphs.