When it comes to designing a modern dental treatment room, there are a few key considerations to keep in mind. The size of the office, the delivery style, and the layout of the equipment are all important factors that can affect the patient experience and office productivity. Ideally, a dental architect or designer should be consulted to ensure that all of these elements are taken into account. When it comes to size, a non-supervising dentist office should be at least 80 square feet, with an additional 40 square feet for each additional dentist.
It's important to avoid the biggest design error of the dental office: placing the arms of the dental equipment in the patient's chair and trapping them. When it comes to delivery style, there are several options available. Rear wall delivery carts have a sliding track that allows dental and assistant instruments to move on either side of the dental cart for ambidextrous use. Plumbless connections are self-contained dental carts with internal compressed air and vacuum that only require a connection to a standard electrical outlet for operation.
In-floor and above floor models are typically placed at the foot of the patient's chair and can provide ambidextrous use of a cart. Before you can determine a fair budget for your new dental office or even begin with the design, you must first decide how many offices you want to have. It is important to invest proportionately more of your office development costs in revenue-generating or referral technology that distinguishes your treatment room from traditional dental office designs. Finally, modern style dental junction boxes can be used to efficiently manage, hide and protect air, suction, electrical cables, computer data and chair controls in your dental office.
