If you have a room in your dental practice that doesn’t get used very often or has become a cluttered storage area, then you could substantially benefit from repurposing it into a functional part of your clinic. Whether that might be an extra surgery or a dedicated decontamination area, converting a room can make a huge difference to the efficiency of your practice.
We have had experience in converting attics and basements into surgeries and stock rooms into digital imaging rooms, so we will go over some of our recent case studies and show you why the dentists decided to repurpose their rooms and how this could inspire you to do something similar.
As a dental practice brand develops and more staff are hired there is generally the need to convert a room into an additional surgery. This was the case for Guildford Orthodontics. 
An existing staff room was converted into an additional surgery with a Belmont chair and cabinetry to match their primary surgery. To make sure the staff didn’t lose out; the ground floor office was partitioned off to create a new staff room and a disabled access toilet.
Bexleyheath Dental also wanted to expand their practice with another two surgeries to add to the six they currently had. The only space available for this was in the loft, so it had a full renovation involving all building works, plumbing, electrical wiring and design to match the existing style of the property and their tone of branding.
Another large project involved transforming the second floor of Marsh House Orthodontics into a dedicated kids clinic with two surgeries, decontamination room, glass partitioning, x-ray room and consultation room.
Nelson Road Dental wanted to repurpose their staff room into an extra surgery very quickly so that they could reduce fallow time in their practice. This was a swift and low-cost turnaround so that the practice could keep running and ultimately take on more clients.
Many dental practices are in need of a modern and compliant decontamination room. They tend to have a multi-purpose room which acts as a utility, cleaning, decontamination and storage area. This doesn’t follow guidelines and could potentially be a health and safety risk.
Smile Sensations had a large room which, once equipped with the appropriate flooring, cabinetry and worktops, met all of the HTM 01-05 guidelines: creating an ideal clean zone and dirty zone.
Another fit-out that can be classed as repurposing is a surgery refurbishment with a partitioned decontamination area, like Norfolk Square dental practice. This is simply a glass partition that essentially creates another room in the surgery to house all of the decon equipment and complies with the guidelines.
A commonplace room conversion is for a digital imaging or CBCT room. For Crowborough Gentle Dental they needed to repurpose their stock room for this function. The room needed lead-lining, a lead door and flooring as well as a new CBCT machine. This was all achieved very quickly and at short notice.
So, as you can see, there is a need to make every inch of a dental practice as efficient as possible and by utilising the knowledge and experience of a company like Eclipse Dental you can get the most out of the space you have.
Posted by Eclipse Admin
08 Feb, 2022
Tagged
