The 2005 CPR guidelines emphasize the importance of chest compression. The most recent guidelines recommend starting chest compression before rescue breath. However, the effect of chest compression in a dental chair is unknown.
We investigated the efficacy of chest compression in a dental chair. The 26 study participants were experienced medical staff of the Nara Medical University Hospital. Chest compression was performed on a resuscitation manikin placed on a hospital bed, floor or dental chair with/without a CPR backboard (with a metronome that beeped 100 times per minute). The average depth of chest compression was 40.3 mm on the floor, 33.8 mm on the bed, and 32.3 mm in the dental chair. A significant reduction was observed on the bed (p < 0.01) and in the dental chair (p < 0.01) compared with that on the floor. The average depth of chest compression significantly increased to 37.9 mm on the bed (p < 0.01) and 34.6 mm in the dental chair (p < 0.05) with a CPR backboard. However, chest compression in the dental chair with a CPR board was not effective for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Therefore, we placed a side chair under the dental chair and performed chest compression again. As a result, the depth of chest compression was significantly deeper when using the side chair than CPR board, showing the possibility of good chest compression pressure in the dental chair. However, the evidence supporting CPR in the dental chair is exiguous, so we must look more carefully into this point.
