The Impact of the Door Furniture in Dental Practice Design

When it comes to designing dental offices, attention to detail is paramount. Every element within the space plays a crucial role in creating a comfortable and efficient environment for both patients and dental professionals. One often overlooked aspect of the dental office design is the selection of door furniture handles. These seemingly small components can have a significant impact on the overall functionality, aesthetics and hygiene of the space.

Not only do they serve a dual purpose - they provide a means of opening and closing doors while also contributing to the overall functionality of the space. Dental practices require a seamless flow of movement for patients, staff and equipment. Choosing ergonomic handles ensure easy access to different rooms and maintains the efficiency of daily operations.

Entry to treatment rooms, where practitioners often need to move efficiently between patients and work counters, the choice of door handles becomes even more critical. Lever handles for instance, offer a user friendly design that allows easy operation with a gentle push down. This is particularly advantageous in situations where hands might be gloved or occupied with instruments, promoting a smooth and hygienic workflow.

Beyond functionality, door furniture handles contribute significantly to the aesthetic appeal of a dental office. The design and finish of handles align with the overall interior design scheme, creating a cohesive nd professional look. Handles can be selected to complement the colour palette and style of the office, providing a finishing touch to the overall design. High quality finishes such as stainless steel or brushed nickel not only enhance the visual appeal but also contribute to the durability and longevity of the handles, ensuring they withstand the rigors of a busy dental practice. In tighter rooms, handles need to be a sleek profile to prevent injury from unwelcome knocks.

In dental offices, maintaining a clean and hygienic environment is paramount. Door furniture are high touch surfaces than can harbor bacteria andgerms if not properly considered. The choice of materials and finishes plays a crucial role in ensuring that handles are easy to clean and disinfect regularly. Investing time in choosing handles that facilitate easy cleaning protocols contributes to a safer and more sanitary environment for both patients and staff.

In the intricate process of designing dental practices, every details matters. Door furniture handles may seem like minor components but their impact on functionality, aesthetics and hygiene cannot be overstated. by selecting handles that prioritize ease of use, align with the overall design scheme and facilitate proper hygiene practices, dental professionals can create a space that not only looks inviting but also promotes efficiency and safety. Choosing the right door handles is an investment in the overall success and functionality of a dental practice.

How to avoid a noisy practice.

From conversations with patients to colleagues chatting about their weekends, minimising noise in a dental or medical practice is important. Noise control is often overlooked when planning a new fitout, Commodore Dental and Medical Fitouts are well versed in suggesting practical solutions to avoid a noisy workspace and ensure client privacy.

From the beginning of planning, our designer will suggest products that can be in-corporated from the start, not as an after thought which can often occur.

Our designer can suggest different flooring options to reduce noise. Vinyl, carpet tiles, or a combination of these materials is a great start. Interior gyprock linings and wall construction can have varying acoustic ratings that can used to reduce room to room noise transfer.

The use of acoustic noise barriers within the interior design can add to the aesthetic appeal. Felt acoustic walls panels, acoustic pinboards, decorative acoustic ceiling panels, all add an extra level of design.

At Commodore Dental and Medical Fitouts we are happy to discuss with you your acoustic needs during the design process to create a calm, noise free environment.

Dare to be Different!

Choosing interior design selections can sometimes be daunting. Leading you to go with the safe, familiar and well tested.

It may be time to step out of your comfort zone and look for that one striking feature to set your surgery apart from the rest.

This can often be easily achieved by choosing something as simple as a flooring or wall finish. A feature herringbone pattern plank floor, a distinctive colour choice, or a textured wallpaper are ideal choices to create impact without overspending the fitout design budget.

We work closely with suppliers to ensure that we are always up to date with current trends.

Our designer can suggest selections keeping current trends and long term suitability in mind.

We look forward to working with you to help you achieve an individual, memorable interior result.

Quality Fitouts with Reliable Trades

A major contributing factor to the overall high standard of quality when building with Commodore Dental and Medical Fitouts is due to our long term relationships with our trades.

When working closely with electricians, plumbers, cabinet makers it is important that they take as much pride in their work as we do. For the majority of our trades we have been working with them for many, many years.  This includes everyone from the painters to joiners to the flooring and air conditioning contractors. Our core team of trades have been in a working relationship with us for over 20 years.

This ensures that they know what is expected in each surgery, and that works are carried out the way we know the dentists and medical practitioners like to work.

We frequently receive feedback about the excellent quality of the surgery joinery. This is reflected in our gallery, in not only a great looking finished product, but the longevity of the joinery in a hardworking surgery.

A streamlined approach means we are not re-inventing the wheel with each surgery and we know what is required in order to operate a fully functional surgery from opening day, with no additional changes needed once we have finished on site.

Long term relationships with our trades ensure that future maintenance is carried out quickly and efficiently.

By ensuring good relationships with our trades, we have confidence our surgeries are built to the highest standard.

Latest dental fitout at Galston

We completed this quality dental surgery for Winning Smiles at Galston in the last month. It is a 2 chair surgery with a steri, lab, OPG and a private admin office.

We particularly like the eye-catching cabinetry design and overall colour scheme of the practice. In this fitout we utilised only 64 square metres, yet the practice is roomy and very light-filled. Lots of glass in the internal partitioning allows natural light to flow through the premises beautifully.

Important hygiene requirements in dental surgeries

Hygiene and general patient safety has obviously been high on the list of priorities for dental practices in the last year. Routine cleaning and sterilising of practices has been very important during the Covid-19 pandemic, but hygiene is an ongoing requirement to protect your patients and your business.

Surgery design has an important role to play in the quest for hygiene and patient safety. Recent design trends have seen many beautiful but potentially dangerous porous and soft surfaces find their way into dental surgeries. There is a delicate balance between surfaces that are easy and fast to sterilize, but also look good and feel welcoming.

We often see dental and medical fitouts that have been completed without the required understanding of relevant hygiene and patient safety standards. Flooring, electrical, design layout, equipment locations, radiation control, working surfaces, storage, staff facilities and waiting areas all play an important role in hygiene and safety.

We also see practices that have been renovated or ‘face-lifted’ where the new clean fitout is built over an existing shell that has shortcomings in terms of cleanliness and safety. It’s important to know where to draw the line in terms of what to keep and what to replace. You don’t always need to rip everything out and start again, but you do need to do a thorough investigation into the existing fitout before you start.

Opportunities for Dental and Medical Practices

Many practices are experiencing a surge of demand now that restrictions in NSW have been lifted. Combined with the government’s $150,000 instant asset write off available until December and extended JobKeeper wage subsidies available in some businesses until March next year, the dental and medical sectors are well placed to thrive over the next 12 to 24 months.

Despite these positive signs for the dental and medical sector, overall availability of quality office and retail space is very favourable with many sectors not fairing so well. Generous lease terms are available in great locations currently and forward looking practitioners may be able to set up a new practice with lower overheads than has previously been possible.

If you are thinking of setting up a dental or medical practice, please contact us to discuss locations and tax effective fitout options.

Latest dental fitout - Wellness Dental Bronte

In this compact fitout for Dr Yvonne Monte at Wellness Dental Bronte we managed to create amazing space by utilising joinery design to eliminate dividing walls between rooms. We used glazing sections above the joinery to make best use of natural light from the shopfront, and also installed a glass door at the back of the premises. The light flows really well through the surgery.

Because the walls are actually made out of cabinets there is a very generous amount of storage considered the compact premises.

There is also a nice full height glazed cavity sliding door that disappears magically into the joinery.

It’s only about 40 square metres but we have a chair, OPG, steri/lab, waiting, WC, reception and it all works well in the space. It’s a big success!

Commodore Owner, Craig Exley and Dr Yvonne Monte at the end of the project

Thanks to Dr Yvonne Monte, who was great to work with.

See more photos of this dental fitout in our Gallery page.

Dental surgeries and medical practices coming back to life

Life is returning to normal and the dentists are re-opening. It’s been an interesting time and we are getting through it pretty well. Some dentists have taken the opportunity to renovate dental surgeries and carry out maintenance work during their enforced shutdown. We are grateful for the dental and medical clients that have kept us busy with these projects in the last few months and are very pleased to see these businesses now being able to generate some revenue again. I hope the new dental and medical fitouts we have done throughout Sydney help them get their practices running more efficiently and more profitably than ever before.

Time is running out to make the most of the $150,000 instant asset write-off for renovation works. Please contact us if you have any fitout, surgery renovation or dental cabinetry requirements that we could attend to for you this month.

We have also helped some clients in Sydney to re-configure waiting rooms and reception areas to keep patients spread out but still make most efficient use of the space. Please let us know if you need any help with this in your practice.