Which Building Types Are Best For Dental Practices?

Posted by HJT Design

Whether you’re looking to open up a brand new practice or you’re looking to relocate your existing practice, odds are you won’t have the budget to build your own dental practice from scratch. This is okay–few dental practices do. This means that you will have to rent or buy an existing space in which to set up your practice. The following are some of the existing spaces that are commonly bought or rented out by dental practices and what you can do with them:

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1. Retail Strip Center

A lot of new practices set up shop in retail strip centers. While this may seem limiting, doing so has its benefits. For example, you’ll get plenty of nearby foot traffic, which means your dental practice will get tons of exposure and potentially draw a lot of new patients. This can be very helpful in the short term since you don’t necessarily have to sign a long-term lease. Essentially, you can use the retail strip center to build a patient base, then move onto a new location within the area after your lease ends.

There are a few drawbacks to be aware of. First of all, parking can be limited for patients and employees depending on the amount of parking available at the retail strip center and how busy it is on certain days at that strip center. There’s also not a whole lot you can do with the layout of your practice.

A good dental practice design service will be able to evaluate your space and determine what type of layout will function best with what you have to work with. For example, if the space is already divided into numerous rooms, then an open space treatment area may not be the best option. Here at HJT Design, we can work within the limitations of your space (and any limitations imposed by your lease) to help you design an effective dental practice layout.

2. Stand Alone Building in a Shared Lot

Investing in a stand-alone building makes the most sense if you have your own practice. This will allow you to do a lot more renovation work inside to create a layout that best suits your practice and the needs of your patients. You’ll also have your own parking space for patients and employees, as well as plenty of space for signage. If you’re in a shared lot, it means another business may be located nearby. This is typically fine for a single dentist practice since you most likely do not need the entire space of the lot. Some practices that purchase the entire lot will even rent out some of their space so that another building can be built in the same lot by another business.

3. Stand Alone Building in a Private Lot

If you do not share the lot you purchase with another business and don’t plan on doing so, you’ll find that you’ll have unlimited options as far as the layout of your practice goes. You’ll have all of the benefits of having a stand-alone building in a shred lot and you’ll also have plenty of space to expand your building in the event that you need more interior space (such as the need for more treatment rooms to address a growing patient base). Stand-alone buildings in private lots are generally better suited for practices with multiple dentists.

These are a few options when it comes to moving your practice into an existing building. For more professional dental practice design tips and advice, be sure to contact us at HJT Dental Design Consultants today.