dental clinic
refurbishment and planning
Find out how to create an extraordinary dental clinic
When refurbishing a dental clinic or when planning for building a new clinic, there are several dos and don’ts. Find out what to remember when striving to create an extraordinary dental clinic that meets – or exceeds – the needs and expectations of patients, dental professionals and dental clinic owners.
Refurbishment
Refurbishing a dental practice or building a new one is very much about efficiency and cost-savings. On the other hand, it has to provide an ergonomic working environment and high patient comfort.
Mia Glad Thomsen has worked in the dental industry for 25 years and specializes in dental clinic design. According to Mia, good clinic design meets three criteria:
- Aesthetics
- Efficiency
- Ergonomics
Aesthetics: Creating a beautiful dental practice
Using special characteristics to your advantage
One can easily understand why ZWP Magazine awarded Dr. Harry Fritz’s clinic the prize for Germany’s Most Beautiful Dental Practice in 2010. Located in a villa on the verge of Lake Mühlenteich in Lübeck, it radiates uniqueness and charm.
“I had an almost instant vision of my practice, so the planning and realization time was very short. As the building is located in a historic area, it had to meet all the needs of a modern dental clinic and its rigorous hygiene standards while still maintaining the original spirit.”
Three of the treatment rooms are located in the extension of the building with a lake-view so patients can enjoy a direct connection with nature.
Lighting can create the right atmosphere
At Dr. Shafé’s dental clinic in Berlin, there’s a cozy and safe atmosphere. Tasteful decorations and warm lighting support the unique, intimate atmosphere with a truly extraordinary result. The warm LEDs, integrated between the reception’s wood panels, give an aura of lightness and allow the counter to ‘float’ in space.
The KU64 dental clinics in Berlin are known for creating unusual oasis-inspired waiting areas. One of the clinics uses warm, natural colors and a large fireplace to create an inviting, feel-good atmosphere around the reception.
Colors underpin your brand
There is beautiful consistency in the way that the space is designed at dental clinic SYNO. The colors are muted, with a lot of greys, silvers and green, coupled with a text filling the entire wall behind the reception that adds a layer of energetic dynamism.
At one of the KU64 dental clinics in Berlin they’ve used yellow-orange dune landscapes and light-flooded rooms with an ‘extra-terrestrial’ touch to set the scene. A great example of untraditional and exceptional dental clinic interior design.
Are you interested in seeing how the XO Unit colours would fit your clinic design – then check out our colour configurator.
Bring nature inside
In the waiting area at Dr Parham Shafé’s dental clinic, patients are welcomed with minimalist furniture and birch tree barks serving as coat hangers. Everything is understated, harmonious and tasteful.
“This feeling of being at home, of safety and coziness – it is at the core of what I am striving to create, and I will stand by it,” Dr Shafé explains.
Dental clinic efficiency
Efficiency is critical in modern dental practices. And efficiency is relevant for new builds as well as when optimizing existing clinics.
“The perfect clinic design depends on the specific requirements and treatment types, and the needs differ a lot from practice to practice. In effect, it’s not the number of square meters that defines good clinic design, but it’s how you fit out the room,” says Mia Glad Thomsen.
With the XO CARE dental units, you can downsize the treatment rooms to just 6 square meters. This allows you to minimize the size of the existing treatment rooms and fit more treatment rooms into the premises. This way, you can increase productivity.
A LEAN dental practice
Dentist Kimmo Karstoft from Health Center Gråsten has been a dentist for 30 years and a clinic owner for 25 years. He wanted to design his dental practice on LEAN principles.
“That’s why I placed the chair this way in the operatory room so the patient get easy access to the chair – they don’t have to go around it. They go directly from the door opening to the chair,” Kimmo says.
Ergonomics in the dental practice
Lastly, you need to include ergonomics in your clinic refurbishment and planning. About 65 % of all dentists have musculoskeletal complaints varying in severity but involving one or more of the following: discomfort, pain, limitation of functioning and loss of working time. That is why ergonomics is of the essence in any dental clinic.
Jens Petersen, Sales director, Nordenta, premium XO Partner, says “when refurbishing a new clinic, it is important that the dental unit is placed correctly so that the dentist and dental assistant have optimal working conditions when reaching for the various instrument on the table or the pull-pout panel. To ensure correct ergonomic design, everything must fit correctly together.”
