Treatment Rooms is were your going to spend the majority of your time every day and this is where you want to enhance the patient experience. Equipment should provide comfort for your patients while promoting ERGONOMICS FOR YOU AND YOUR STAFFF.  The main goal is to improve treatment efficiency to minimize unnecessary motions in order to perform treatment in the least amount of time necessary, allowing more procedures to be performed in one day without compromising quality.  Practicing dentistry is not only physically demanding, but mentally exhausting.  That’s why it’s important to eliminate the little distractions so you can stay relaxed and focused on the procedure at hand.  At Morgan Shaw, our experience in excellent clinic design relies on a collaborative relationship with your equipment provider and you; together as a team we will implement the steps to achieve your Office Design Goals.

Step 1: Planning Dental Treatment Room Style

Once you have determined your office design goals, the next step is to decide which type of treatment room style will work best for you.

Dental treatment rooms usually follow three general concepts.

Open – This type is an open bay with multiple patient chairs contained in the room.  Although it is highly cost effective, the non-privacy aspect doesn’t permit wide use and is usually found in orthodontic type practices.

Single Entry – This type of treatment room is separated by walls to divide operatories and provides the most patient privacy due to only one entry into the room. It also can allow for smaller room design by eliminating a second entry so can be more economical and permit more density of operatories for limited office floor space.   It will however restrict staff movements in and out of the room during treatment so proper planning and use of modular system should be utilized to ensure uninterrupted traffic flow.

Dual Entry – Is the most common designs. This type of treatment room is separated by walls or cabinets to divide operatories and provides reasonable patient privacy. The major benefit is how well it facilitates patient and staff traffic by allowing entry from either side of the patient chair and room.

Remember dental assistants have many important responsibilities. Their tasks include patient care, infection control, inventory control, and equipment maintenance. With is this in mind we can now think about all the options available in creating the optimum treatment room for your practice.