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What Your Dentist Waiting Room Says About Your Practice
Many patients are anxious leading up to a dental procedure. It stands to reason that your dentist waiting room should be a place where patients can rest and alleviate some of that anxiety before they enter the treatment area.
The waiting room showcases how well you pay attention to detail – and how much you value the entire patient experience. The smallest accommodations make a significant difference. You can use your office’s waiting room to strengthen your patient relationships.
5 Opportunities to Create a Dentist Waiting Room that Conveys the Right Message
Appropriate Wait Times – Your patients value their time. Long waits can lead to poor word of mouth, which can have a damaging impact to your practice in the age of Yelp, Google, and other review sites. Keeping your patients waiting for long amounts of time can negatively impact the relationship before the work even starts.
Even the patients who didn’t have any form of anxiety about their procedure may become a little nervous if given too much time to think about it beforehand.
Wall Art – Artwork is an excellent way to create a soothing environment that can take patients’ minds off their visit. There is more that can be done to take advantage of this space. Your walls can be used to help build trust, and a personal connection with your patients before they set foot into the treatment areas.
You could create a “patient of the month” board. You can use before and after smile photos and talk about the work that was done. You could display photos of your office staff in their personal hobbies. These photos may serve as an excellent conversation starter as the next patient makes their way into the treatment area.
Appropriate TV or Music – If your office specializes in children’s care, a Disney movie or age-appropriate cartoon can help calm kids before their appointment begins. If your office is focused more on adult care, it can help to have a handful of well-known movie staples on repeat.
When a patient mentally connects your office with one of their favorite movies, you win. The same thing goes for music. While elevator music may have a calming effect, a selection of oldies, classic rock, or well-known blues songs may send them out the door humming a song that they love.
Indulgences – A mini fridge stocked with water can make the wait a little more bearable. Coffee, juices, and other drinks also add an excellent touch. What about adding a super-comfortable arm chair, or even a massage chair? Those are the details people will remember upon leaving.
Interior Design – Make sure that the design details contribute to a soothing environment. Every detail involving the wall color, furniture, and artwork should contribute to a professional, relaxing environment.
For instance, blues can have a tranquil, peaceful feel. The couches, chairs, throw pillows, and wall art all offer opportunity for accent color.
Conclusion
You work hard to attract new patients and keep them happy with the experience. Make sure that your dentist waiting room isn’t killing that experience before they ever make it back to the treatment area.
Expert Ideas for Dental Treatment Room Design
At Apex Design Build, our decades of experience give us an added edge over our competitors. This also means we have more to offer you, our clients. We want to know: What makes you tick? How do you want your dental office design to look? What features should it have? In our experience, excellent dental clinic design relies on a collaborative relationship with clients. The more we understand your needs, the better equipped we are to meet them.
Whether you want to build your new dental clinic from the ground up, or you’re renovating existing premises, Apex can help. You may even wish to expand your practice footprint to attract new clientele or build a new dental office practice design altogether. We know that an optimal setup for dental treatment is critical to great design. Each of your operatory rooms should be fit for purpose, incorporating innovative architecture and essential equipment. In this article, we give some expert advice on dental treatment room design.
Equipment and Furniture for Dental Treatment Rooms
Equipment should provide comfort for your patients while promoting ergonomics for your staff. It’s also important to know that each piece of equipment or furniture should mesh together like individual puzzle pieces. If one piece isn’t right, the whole picture will look odd. Appearances aren’t everything, but they go a long way to satisfying patients. Apex has extensive experience building custom-tailored furniture for operatory rooms. As such, we can work to any specification. If you want to select your chair and then work outwards, we can help you design your floor plan. Or if you prefer to design space-saving storage solutions first and work inward, then we can adjust our methods to suit you. But what other features do you find in an operatory room?
1- Dental Patient Chair. The most recognizable aspect of any dental treatment room, your dental patient chair is the center of the room. We recommend starting with the chair and building around it, as everything else flows naturally from there. It should be comfortable and functional, while not overly large. There is a wide range of sizes available if you have a smaller operatory.
2- Suitable Seating for Your Clinicians. Your staff work hard, often going the extra mile for patients and the practice. As such, you should ensure they have somewhere to sit down. It’s essential to create an operatory room that is comfortable for staff as well as patients.
3- Dental Delivery System. This is your central hub, from which you control your other treatment systems. Typically, this will be integrated into the architecture of the room, like the chair, as a static feature. This may be separate from or part of your computer system.
4- Surgical Lighting. The right lighting is essential to dentistry, and your operatory room requires professional surgical lighting for your work.
5- Storage Solutions and Architecture. Maximizing space is essential for your dental treatment room due to constant foot traffic. At Apex, we always keep ease of access in mind, for staff and patients. Spaces should be designed to flow naturally, directing patients and staff to the right place. It should allow easy access in and out, guiding them to and from the exit. We can design bespoke overhead storage as well as floor-level cabinets for you. All you have to do is ask.
For us, the ideal dental office is one that serves everyone’s needs, providing a therapeutic atmosphere for dental treatment. We want to understand your ideal modern dental clinic design techniques. Not only that, we want to help design it, and build it for you. Don’t waste time. Get in touch.
