DENTAL CLINIC REPORT

GROUP: 02
GROUP MEMBERS
NAYAB ROLL:NO:20AR008
MANAN MUSTAFA ROLL:NO:20AR009
DUAA KARIM ROLL:NO:20AR011
ALISHAH ROLL:NO:2OAR012
SUBJECT: ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN-III
DEPARTMENT: ARCHITECTURE
SUBMITTED TO: MAM SANIA
Dental clinic
The dental clinic is a place where a dentist performs dental procedures and treatments
on patients. Dental clinics can be found in hospitals, schools, government offices, and
other health-related establishments. The clinic is usually a single room housing all
dental equipment and tools.

A dental clinic ordinarily provides basic dental services, such as checkups, fillings and
root canals. Patients seeking cosmetic treatments may need to go to a dental office. A
dental clinic may be more likely to provide emergency after-hours care, while dental
offices may be more inclined to keep traditional hours.
Our Project:
We are directed to design a dental clinic, and the site is in Unit No: 07 Latifabad
Hyderabad Sindh. The site is 28’00” by 50’-00”. The site is bounded by all three walls
(means having plots on three sides). The plot has a wide road at front with a maximum
width of 40’-00”. Whereas, have plot on left, right and back. So, the ventilation is quite
difficult, ventilation and lightning needs to be considered necessarily. The wind direction
is south-west to North-East. And the directions are as shown below.

Requirements Of the Project:

 At least 3 dental chairs.
 Requirement for one doctor only.
 Storage place in form of stores.
  Sterilization room.
 X-ray room (optional)
 Reception.
 Waiting area for females and males.
 Accommodation of male and females in waiting area should be minimum ten.
 Kitchenette.
 Consultancy room that should be connected to the treatment rooms.
 Treatment area.
 Powder room should be one for male and females.
 Separate Washroom should be provided for the doctor.

Staff Accommodation in Dental clinic:

 Receptionist.
 Helping Boy.
 2 internees
 01 Doctor.

Importance of Design and Planning

Designing and planning are of major importance for efficient functioning, avoiding
logistic problems and wastage of money in future as well as creating a unique identity of
the clinic in a competitive environment.
Even a small dental clinic has a complex design because of multiple services involved.
So, the design and construction require extraordinary teamwork. Collaboration and
coordination are required between dentist, interior designer, equipment installers, and
agencies like carpenter, electrician, plumber, fabricator, false ceiling maker and so on.
And here likes a captain of cricket team, dentist is the leader of whole team.
Making a dental clinic can be quite overwhelming, especially for the first time because
there are many things one is not sure about. So, to simplify things, here are basic
parameters of dental clinic design.

Parameters of Dental Clinic Design

1. Choosing the clinic space
2. Functioning of Layout
3. Functioning of chair and other equipment
4. Planning of services
5. Lighting and ventilation
6. Selection of materials
7. Hygiene and sterilization
8. Storage Design
9. Clinic Identity
Choosing the dental clinic space
The clinician should be clear about all the requirements – number of chairs, provision of
chairs, kind of X-ray unit, utilization of storage, staff – before buying the space.
Natural light and ventilation play a major role in improving the efficiency of work.
Commercial spaces that do not have any window are not at all advisable for making
dental clinics.
The number of chairs and their functionality not only depends on the total area of space
but also on size and shape of space, entry direction, window location and several other
factors. Thus, pre-planning of the layout is required before buying the space.

Functioning of Layout
Basic functions of a dental clinic are:
 Waiting area – executive waiting
 Consulting area
 Dental Operatory
 Laboratory – Scrub Room
 Operation Theatre and Patient Ward (in case of Oral Surgeon)
 X-ray room (if required)
 Washroom
 Nursing or Pantry (optional)

Division of space
There are basically four possibilities for the relationship between consulting and
operatory:
1. Consulting and operatory can be completely open without any partition in-
between, this will be most suitable for small clinics with a single chair and niche
practice. (Fig. 1)
2. There can be half partition between consulting and operatory, that will provide
marginal visual privacy to the patient without dividing whole space. (Fig. 2)
3. Consulting and operatory can also be completely separated with glass partition.
That will allow audio and visual privacy to consultation.
4. There is also a possibility where one chair can be with consultation room and rest
of the chairs are in operatory.
 Fig. 1 – Consulting area open with operatory

Fig. 2 – Half partition between consulting area and operatory

Patient movement
Patient movement inside the clinic also has two possibilities:
1. If the waiting area and the operatory are in open layout, then from waiting area
patient can go to operatory via consulting area. In this case, every patient will
pass in front of the clinician, but consultation will not have privacy. (Fig. 3)
2. In the second scenario, from the waiting area patients can be taken directly to the
operatory by the receptionist. Dentist can check and take the patient to
consulting area for explaining the treatment plan and finally patient can directly
come out in waiting Such a loop moment will help in making operatory hassle-
free while maintaining the patient flow. (Fig. 4)

Fig. 3 – Patient movement from waiting to operatory via consulting

Fig. 4 – Patient movement – waiting-operatory-consulting in loop

Functioning of chair and equipment
One of the most crucial aspects is to make dental clinic design layout in a way that
leaves enough space to work around the chair. For normal practice in Indian context,
ideal space for one chair would be 10 feet x 7 feet. When space is limited one can
accommodate one chair in a minimum of 8.5 feet x 6 feet space.
Basic diagram of four-handed dentistry suggests 7 o’clock to 12 o’clock positions as
clinician’s zone (Fig. 5) but every specialist dentist should keep space around the chair
according to their own preferable work positions.
Movement of chair arms should be considered with proximity to adjacent platform and
storage. If one is planning for wall mount X-ray unit then it must be checked in the
layout itself that arms are reachable to necessary chairs. Generally, X-ray unit arms are
6 feet long but if required one can pre-order longer arms.
Planning dental equipment with the rest of the interior is crucial for efficiency because
even a small mistake can cost huge if neglected. For example, if the X-ray unit is kept
below the air conditioner, normal water leakage will damage the whole X-ray unit.

Fig. 5 – Four-handed dentistry

Dental Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the design science that fits the work to the worker. Application of dental
ergonomics will increase comfort for the dental team and decrease work-related
disorders.
Dentists often suffer from lower back pain, neck and shoulder pain, wrist and hand
problems, stress etc. These are results of awkward posture, forceful exertions, repetitive
motions like scaling and vibrating hand tools. These problems can be tackled with
appropriate work postures (Fig.6 &7), shadow-free lighting and organizing equipment
and materials in a manner that reduces posture deviation while working.

Fig. 6 – Saddle Stool promotes neutral pelvic position

 Fig. 7 – Work posture to reduce low back pain

Planning of services
Dental clinics have multiple services integrated with each other. So, if one starts
execution without planning, the clinic will end up with pipelines and wires meshed up in
every corner.
While planning can fetch brilliant results like just simply chair on the floor without any
box or pipes visible! (Fig. 8 &9) To make pipes invisible all the service lines must be
taken under the floor and a small chamber must be made right below the chair. All the
services will directly get connected to the chair from this chamber. These services
include electric connection, water inlet, RO water inlet, plumbing outlet, HDMI cable,
Suction, and Compressor inlet. Such underfloor services will not only give a clean look
but will also allow hassle-free movement around the chair.
In such a case, the floor must be raised 5 to 6 inches above the slab and the location of
the chair must be finalized before doing the flooring.
All other services namely – plumbing, electrical, Lan cable, air condition, CCTV
cameras, intercom, music system, compressor, power backup should be planned in the
layout before starting execution.
To transfer data from RVG to screen, HDMI cable is used, and it is not possible to make
a joint in HDMI cable. So, a 2-inch separate pipe must be placed under the floor to carry
this cable.
 Fig. 8 – Pipes and boxes are visible

Fig. 9 – Hassle-free movement around chair as services are under the floor

Lighting and ventilation

Maximum natural light is preferable for dental clinics as it will improve work efficiency.
Also, natural light is considered best in shade matching for cosmetic work.
Ventilation is preferable in laboratory area to allow exhaustion of bad odor and heat
generated from autoclave.
Decorative yellow lighting should be avoided in operatory as it will distract surgery
procedure. Uniform lighting is a must in operatory because it will smoothen the work
procedure. (Fig. 10 &11)
 Fig. 10 – Decorative yellow light should be avoided in operatory

Fig. 11 – Uniform lighting will smoothen surgery procedure

Selection of materials
For dental clinic interior design, selection of material is a tricky thing as one has to make
a fine balance between durability, aesthetics, and budget.
For flooring tiles, marbles are common options. Matt finish tiles are preferable as glossy
tiles would reflect the artificial light harshly and would be slippery.
Even the platform has options of granite, solid surface (Corian) and glass. Granite is the
most durable and cost-effective but in laboratory, one must select a granite which
doesn’t get stained by chemicals like betadine. Even stainless-steel sinks in laboratory
can get rusted and get scratches, so it is better to opt for ceramic or polypropylene
basins. Whereas small basins in operatory can be of glass to match with the chair
spittoon.

Hygiene and sterilization

Hygiene and sterilization are technically significant aspects of dental clinic design.
Especially laboratory area should be made in such a way that it is easily cleanable and
maintenance free. Smallest things like a built-in dustbin and tissue wipe holder near
basin can help in maintaining hygiene level in a big way.
Radiation should be taken seriously, and proper lead room and lead door are essential
requirements for OPG unit.

Fig. 12 – Readymade built-in cabinet

 Fig. 15 – Laboratory planning according to flow of instruments

Storage Design
Readymade built-in storage cabinets for dental clinics are available worldwide (Fig.12)
but it will cost way more than making it on site.
While making cabinets on site, each drawer should be made exactly according to the
specific instruments that are to be placed in it. Initiative for such planning must be taken
by the dentist only.
All equipment like suction, CPU, invertor, small trolleys, CCTV DVR should be built-in
storage only so that nothing is seen outside, and it is easy to keep it clean. In small
clinics, dental trolleys with multiple drawers and folding top can be immensely useful
and space saving. (Fig. 13 &14)
The laboratory area has a lot of equipment and services. Basin, autoclave, UV
chamber, micromotor, glass bead sterilizer, ultra-sonic vibrator, freezer and other
equipment should be planned according to sterilization flow of instruments. (Fig. 15)
Such microplanning will increase hygiene and efficiency to a new level.
Fig. 13 – Folding top trolley for clinics with limited space
 Fig. 14 – Customized drawers according to the instruments

Clinic Identity
In a competitive era, to give a unique identity of your clinic, the clinic should be
designed aesthetically with a specific theme. Branding can be done where the same
theme and color tone can be maintained in the interior, stationery, visiting card, clinic
name board, and website. The Clinic logo can be incorporated as part of the interior so
that people easily identify with it. (Fig. 16)
 Fig. 16 – clinic logo can be part of interior

In dental clinic design if aesthetics go hand in hand with functionality the result would be
a very soothing space where clinician would love to work for longer hours and patients
would not mind for a painful extraction.
This article is not meant to emphasize just the aesthetical value of the clinic. Only
spending more money will not make your clinic a good workplace. Designing a technical
yet aesthetical clinic requires clinician’s consistent attention, reasonable budget but
most importantly planning at several levels. Planning the most suitable layout, planning
of services, pre-planned equipment and micro-planning of storage.