«Me and Nele were sure about getting ORTHORA 200s from the start, as we had always had them in our old practice. So when we finally sat together with the design agency, the only thing that still needed to be decided on, when it came to chairs, was colour. The great thing about the ORTHORA is that the frame and upholstery can be customised to your personal taste and practice design. We decided to keep ours slick and minimal… black and white, like the interior.» With seven new ORTHORA 200s in place, the old ones went back to Utrecht Dental, MIKRONA’s distributor in the Netherlands, who comes over once a year for inspection.

Former classmates Dominicus and the Flemish Mattheeuws met at Ghent University while specialising in orthodontics and, before starting their practice together, the pair were aptly called Dominicus Mattheeuws. «After I finished high school, I initially studied to be a civil engineer,» Dominicus explains, «but after a year, I realised I wanted a job with a lot of social contact. Since I was a child I wanted to be a dentist and found orthodontic braces fascinating appliances, although, ironically, I never needed any myself. I started to study dentistry and moved on to orthodontics from there. Interestingly, orthodontics are not that different from engineering in the mouth. The happy faces when I take off the braces are a bonus.»

The practice’s location could not be better. Located in the middle of Reeshof, a neighbourhood with a high proportion of teenagers and parents with young children, and around the corner from a school with 3,000 pupils, there is no lack of young people in need of straight teeth. «It was the number one location for me. Our old practice was closer to the city centre, but 70 per cent of our patients were living in this neighbourhood. Also, there are 100 free parking spaces in front, while the back is looking out into the park. Working here almost feels as being in the middle of a forest. It is a practice with great potential and I will happily serve the coming years here. With the ORTHORAs, I assume,» Dominicus adds.

What makes the ORTHORA 200 different from any other chair? In Dominicus’ opinion, «They are just super nice to work with. I work with different chairs in my private practice and although those chairs have been going for a good five years or so, it is all a bit more fragile, a bit more rattling, more of a hassle. The ORTHORA 200 can take a blow, which is necessary as me and Nele both see a thousand patients each every month. They are like a good, fancy car compared to a bad one. Both bring you from point A to B, but when you are used to the good one, you cannot help but notice a number of little problems driving the other. In that sense, ORTHORA 200s are the Rolls Royces of orthodontic chairs.»