Along with color selection, lighting is one of the most important considerations to plan for when you’re working through a dental office redesign or remodel. Choosing the proper lighting elements can create an atmosphere of comfort, clarity, and medical professionalism.

Choosing the wrong lighting elements could have undesirable effects that your patients will have to live with, literally.

Lighting Matters- To Your Patients

Many patients come to the dentist feeling nervous about the experience. Children are scared about a stranger’s fingers and all those loud, metal instruments, jammed into their mouths. Adults are nervous about the diagnosis, and the truth about the condition of their teeth (and the cost to fix it). But whether you realize it or not, the lighting you choose can help ease that anxiety and make their experience more pleasant.

The lighting placement and type can help determine the mood and ambiance of the space. If the waiting and reception room feels cold and dark, your patients may become more anxious in a seemingly unwelcome dental office. But, rooms that have adequate, warm lighting can help put your patients at ease. Tungsten/Incandescent lighting is a good choice for these types of areas.

Lighting Matters-To You and Your Staff

Lighting is especially important in your treatment rooms and lab spaces. The goal is to have “balanced lighting” throughout the entire office. This will allow everyone in your office to see exactly what they need to see while they’re there. For dental care professionals, it’s important to be able to properly evaluate and measure your work.

Too much natural light within the treatment rooms might actually be a negative thing, throwing off the lighting balance within the space because light conditions outside vary constantly due to weather conditions. Improper lighting could impact your ability to determine precise shade matching, leaving your patients with teeth that do not look natural. Improper lighting balance could also negatively affect the clarity of your dental photography.

Finding the Right Lightbulb for the Space

When you’re completing a dental office renovation, choosing the right lighting isn’t as simple as choosing standard lightbulbs from the hardware store. There are multiple bulb choices to consider for a dental office setting, including:

• Fluorescent tube lighting
• Incandescent lighting
• Warm Fluorescent lighting
• Daylight Fluorescent lighting
• LED lighting
• Halogen Lighting (commonly found in surgical chair lighting)

The key to finding the best lighting balance for the individual spaces within your dental practice is to use a color meter to measure the lighting in the room. The ideal reading should be 5500∘ K with 100% CRI, or as close to those readings as possible.

The easiest way to find the ideal lighting combinations that will best illuminate the space, allow you to work effectively and efficiently, and best set the mood  for patients is to hire a dental office design consultant. Professionals in this field will understand the studying, planning, development and implementation necessary to create the desired visual appeal that will add style and functionality to your dental office.

At HJT, our diverse team of professionals has been assembled from multiple fields of expertise, and is well-equipped to execute every aspect of your dentist office redesign or remodel fully and completely. Through our extensive planning process, we work collaboratively with you to ensure that your office redesign best fits the space for optimum results. Contact us today to learn how we can bring new beauty and functionality to your dental office.