Page 54 - The Dental Entrepreneur

The Dental Entrepreneur

There is one key person that you need to secure to pull this job off smoothly and economically.
This is someone in the trades, often a carpenter who has all the connections to help you
organize this job. He can also pull all the required building permits.

The key to assisting your general contactors hat is both sequence and timing. You have to
have an idea of the basic sequence of construction. The walls are framed first, the plumbing,
electrical and HVAC if needed are next. The cabinets are laid out. Wall finishes and finally floor
coverings. The timing of each of these events is critical so people come in the proper
sequence and don’t step over each other.

Design Considerations

Your office should maintain a neutral and clean appearance. This is not the venue to make a
personal statement of your taste or style (or lack of it). A hunting lodge theme with deer head
mounts in the waiting area probably is not a good choice. Also bold colors that might be stylist
should be avoided. Keep it super simple clean, neutral and elegant. Houzz or Pinterest can
provide you hours of inspirational reflection!

Floor Coverings

Floor coverings in a dental office are common sense. They must be readily cleanable and that
probably excludes carpet. Can you imagine the biologic potpourri that could exist deep in the
fibers of an operatory carpet. The great news is the incredible number of hard surface choices
today. My current favorite are the porcelain tiles in wood grain. They look spectacular, clean up
easily and could accent any décor.

Lighting

Maximize access to windows and natural light. It reduces eye fatigue and greatly enhances
shade selections. Indirect lighting and task lighting should be combined to provide adequate
lighting levels and controls glare on monitors.

Ceilings

Absolutely nothing is more overlooked in the average dental office than the ceilings. Nothing in
your office will reflect your overall cleanliness to the patient more than what they spend most of
their time looking at. A serene poster, nicely mounted to the ceiling is an option that gives the
patient something to look at. T.V’s have always been an option but the mounting can be tricky.

Virtual Glasses are a fairly inexpensive way for patients to watch various forms of media while
they are in your operatory. Just be aware that your patients view of the world while undergoing
treatment needs to be respected.

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