Patients have a lot of anxiety surrounding trips to the dentist office.  The goal in dental office design is to craft a patient experience that is welcoming, friendly, and inviting so this natural anxiety is reduced or eliminated and patients will have a positive feeling following their trip to the dentist.  This doesn’t matter whether the trip is to a general dentist, orthodontist, periodontist, oral surgeon, or another dental specialist.  That positive feeling the patient gets when they think about their time at the dentist is what defines that dental practices’ brand and is what motivates patients to refer their family and friends.

Now, this clip from “Little Shop of Horrors” with Steve Martin as a dentist makes it plain why so many people have such anxiety over going to visit the dentist.  Unfortunately, no amount of great interior design is going to help this guy’s patients have a warm and fuzzy feeling when they leave his practice.  This is one practice that needs a full-on patient experience redesign, starting with the doctor’s chair side manner!  Let’s hope no one ever has to endure a dental experience like this!