When you take the time to focus on the interior design of your dental office, your entire practice will reap the benefits. Your patients will enjoy a better experience each time they come to see you and your employees will actually perform better. Here are four ways to improve the design of your dental office to benefit both your employees and your patients.

1. Start With Your Waiting Room

The waiting room in your dental practice is a tremendous opportunity for you to set the tone for your patients' entire visit. They will typically have to spend a significant amount of time there, so it is important that the waiting room is a top priority in your dental office design. When designed correctly, your waiting room can actually help to reduce anxiety and help the time pass by quickly.

Here are some tips for improving the comfort level of your patients with your waiting room design:

• Space the seating comfortably so people don't feel like they are stacked on top of each other.
• If you have the space, include private work spaces and charging stations for students and professionals
• Add a retail area offering patients the opportunity to shop your products while also killing time and getting a distraction
• Separate the kid-friendly play area from the rest of the waiting room to allow for space and prevent other patients from being annoyed by the children

2. Carefully Select Your Color Scheme

The color scheme in your dental office design should be in the forefront of your mind throughout the entire design process. Studies have shown that colors can have a profound effect on a person's psyche. The last thing that you want to do is paint all of your walls in a color that will increase your patients' anxiety or heighten their sense of agitation. Here is a simplistic break down of different color options and their impact on people's emotions:

Yellow: joyful, happiness, exuberance. Yellow is said to be uplifting and energizing.

Blue: calm, peaceful, relaxing. Blue is said to lower blood pressure, heart rates, and respiration rates

Green: calm, peaceful, happiness. Since green is a combination of both blue and yellow, it is said to have a combined effect of being calming, while also leading to happier moods.

Red: energizing, motivating, empowering. Red can raise blood pressure and productivity levels.

3. Focus On Furniture

The furniture is another key element in your dental office design. You should select something that is not only cohesive with the rest of your dental office design, but is also comfortable and helps your patients to relax. Remember, most people are feeling at least a little on edge when they visit the dentist, the last thing they want to do is spend half an hour sitting in a boring waiting room in a hard uncomfortable chair.

4. Lighten Up

Lighting is often an overlooked element in dental office design. However, correctly implementing lighting styles that soothe in key areas like your waiting room, can have a powerful impact on your practice. Do not rely on stagnant florescent lighting which has been proven to cause headaches and can be very irritating to the eyes. Use your dental office lighting as an opportunity to set the mood and further enhance the overall experieince for your patients and your employees.