If you’ve ever been to the dentist (who hasn’t?) what’s your immediate reaction when you enter the office?  Do you feel nervous, or hesitant about being there?  If you’re like me, you just want to get it done and get out of there and not have to come back for a LONG time.  Well after the dental procedure you may still feel that way, but at least things could likely seem a whole lot better with the proper atmosphere and decorating ideas.  For instance, would you rather feel like you’ve just entered the operating room of a hospital, or a relaxed family atmosphere?  Certainly some office “waiting rooms” are relatively small, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be cheerful and homey.

Dr. Drabik & Wife Kris in Inviting Office

Put your patients at ease in the office entry, waiting room, hallway, and dental chair with a relaxing theme.  Your customers will be much more at ease with a home feeling versus a sterile hospital atmosphere.  A great example of a relaxing environment for clients is illustrated here using decor accessories with a rustic Adirondack theme.  The adjacent picture shows open shelves for toys in a corner for the younger children, and family style seating.  The furniture should of course be comfortable, but follow your theme and don’t forget to add it to the personnel side of the counter as well.  If you’d like to see more of what Dr. Drabik did with their office be sure to take a look and learn more about additional comforting details.  After all, you do want your patients to come back don’t you?

Note the relaxing colors in Dr. Drabik’s office as it’s always important to use neutral colors which are much more comforting than brights, whites, and blacks.  Again, you want the home environment or even home party atmosphere, not the surgical “get them in and get them out” feeling.  Of course being friendly, courteous and attentive to your patient’s needs at all times is a big part of this whole concept, so don’t forget the details.  It can be the devil in the details, or the angel in the details.  Which would you prefer if you were the patient?

An additional enhancement is adding life and greenery to your decorating ideas, even if it’s just one item it can make a real difference.  Fish tanks (be ready for maintenance duty) will create special interest for children and adults alike.  Another enrichment is live plants (maintenance duty), silk flowers (low maintenance), or silk plants (occasional dusting),  or  silk flower arrangements, but be sure you have office or maintenance personnel willing to keep up diligently with any choices involving the required preservation.  The last thing you want is a local resident going belly up in the fish tank, or a plant that’s not looking so good (ok, so who’s the next patient?).  I think you get the idea.

Also, you’re going to need some appropriate art for the walls and of course photos, paintings, prints, etc. work well if you stay with the theme.  Here’s one that’s a fun one that gets an important point across to young patients and they won’t forget the point when they see this framed print .

Don’t forget that softly played music can help set the tone, but don’t choose hard rock or many of your patients will complain at best, or never be back at the worst.  Many patients like to talk among themselves in the office, but if the music is too loud or annoying it’s going to detract from rather than enhance the environment. The main point is to very carefully choose peaceful enhancing mood  music at a very low volume and realize many of your patients may have hearing problems.  Background “noise” can be very irritating when trying to communicate for those who are hearing impaired.

Of course fragrance of the office is also important, but be very careful here as some patients can not even tolerate perfumes being used by personnel.  What we recommend and can really add to the “home” environment scene are naturally home made potpourri, or on site brewing of natural  fragrances.  It can be fun, and different each week.  Changing the recipe more often than this tend to turn into work and is really not necessary, as the fragrance can easily last this long with most natural ingredients.  Keep in mind it doesn’t need nor should it be a strong fragrance, but subtle and pleasant to the senses.

Natural & Safe Potpourri

Personally I love the smell of vanilla and cinnamon (what’s for dessert?), but let your imagination do the designing, or you can go here for a short lesson.  One word of caution if you’re going to be using an energy using small appliance for simmering.  It could be like the coffee pot left turned on empty overnight that burns down the house.  Be sure to include safeguards that will prevent this tragic possibility, such as an automatic shut off timer.  You don’t need to leave these items on long to get the fragrance in the air anyway, so play it safe.

If you have special recipes of your own, please don’t hesitate to share them with us and help spread the good will.

My Best,  Billy Goldmark