Flights of fancy await the senses when the latest fashion in dental office design is whimsy and distraction. Never mind that you’re there to have teeth extracted – don’t think of the pain, think of the dolphin swimming across the tranquil blue sea on the wall adjacent to you. Keeping a kid-friendly environment, or even calming adult patients who have never seen visits to the dentist as a good thing, is not just the work of posters, toys, and paintings any more, but actual architectural and furniture design.
Main Street Pediatric Dentistry, located in Tuckahoe, New York, provides its patients with extraordinary oral health care in a one-of-a-kind environment. From textural touches such as a submarine-like hallway to amazing, fun-filled murals featuring loads of colorful sea creatures dancing in the crystal blue water, the practice of Dr. Penny Resnick-Graulich is no ordinary pediatric dental office. What better way to encourage children – whether on their first visit to the dentist or their 21st – to think of the visit as something to look forward to, rather than a dreaded experience they will remember to avoid as much as possible in adulthood? Distracting nervous children and skittish adults is the best way to encourage positive associations – frolicking animals, relaxing shades of color, and cool tactile sensations to encounter in every room – make a visit to the dentist’s office a much more lively, entertaining, and engaging experience than it ever was before.
Was that a charging rhinoceros you saw? Watch your head, low ceilings in a submarine! When a simple visit to the dentist turns out to be a sensory adventure for children and adults alike, the reason for the visit is often secondary to the spectacle. Around each corner, in every room, the possibility of a new discovery awaits, whether from the touch of a feather or the flip of a tail across your outstretched arm. If you’re thinking of making a change in your dental office décor, explore the possibilities in dental office design that dentists such as Dr. Resnick–Graulich are deciding to implement. Then paint an interactive picture in 3-D of the experience you’d like your patients to come away with – you’ll be as amazed at your own creativity!
