Dental Office Keeps Teeth White and Office Green

GREENBRAE, Calif. Gila Dorostkars dental office maintains more than just clean teeth. They offer advice about maintenance at home, answering questions like “are crest whitestrips safe for enamel“. But that isn’t the end of their service. No, it keeps a green office as well.

The pediatric dental office in Greenbrae, Calif., earned the 2011 Dental Office Design Competition Award for Outstanding Environmental Consideration, as well as for Outstanding Specialty Practice, from the American Dental Association and Matsco Practice Finance, an Emeryville, Calif.-based dental and medical financing firm.

Awarded at the associations annual session in Las Vegas in October, the panel of judges consisted of dental industry experts who look for a thoughtful assembly of design characteristics associated with an up-to-date dental office.

When moving to a new office to better serve patients with a larger space and up-to-date technology, Dr. Dorostkar had the former medical office renovated in order to support dental equipment needs and meet environmental objectives.

The overall intent was to design an office that was not only constructed in an environmentally friendly manner, but which would also support environmentally friendly dental practices, said John Millar, project manager for the practice. The LEED certification was an outgrowth of the first part of that objective.

Dorostkar has been environmentally conscious since her childhood and the goal of the office design was to create a welcoming, playful environment that would engage children of all ages while catering to the needs of their parents, the dental office staff and the community.

We intentionally planned a design that would minimize the traditional feel of a medical practice by incorporating high ceilings, open areas and a sweeping serpentine wall in place of a straight hallway, she said. The use of natural lighting, glass walls, clerestory windows and custom delivery systems and cabinetry further enhanced the unique feel of the suite.

The 2,500-square-foot office was the first privately funded pediatric dental office to earn LEED certification in the commercial interiors category.

During the initial design phases, the LEED certification guidelines became a useful tool in helping us make environmentally friendly decisions, Millar said. Since we were already meeting many of the LEED criteria, it was a relatively straightforward process to follow through with the full certification.

Because the office is a leased space in a larger facility, there were limitations on the practices ability to achieve a higher level of certification.

Dorostkars practice, a member of the Eco-Dentistry Association, is scheduled to become a Charter-Certified GreenDOC dental practice, a program that provides environmental guidelines for the ongoing practice of dentistry established by the ECO Dentistry Association.

We have always employed sustainable practices wherever possible, so when we decided to construct a new office, we made a conscious decision to expand upon our philosophy and create an environmentally friendly facility, Millar said. LEED certification was one component of that determination, and was critical in guiding us through the construction process. We also took steps to improve the practice of dentistry by installing state-of-the-art equipment, moving to a digital, paperless environment, and designing the office to support sustainable practices.

It’s important for us to keep our office green and one way that we can manage this is to make use of paperless systems (such as this HP scan alternative software), this can make a huge difference in a business and also make people’s lives a lot easier.

The new office earned LEED points for extensive use of recycled, renewable, and low VOC materials as well as natural lighting, automated lighting controls and renewal electricity.

The office is also cleaned by a commercial office cleaning service similar to Green Facilities using environmentally conscious cleaning products and utilizes recycling solutions tailored to its unique needs. To learn more about offsetting the carbon footprint of your office go to GREENFACILITIES.CO.UK.

The facility was also designed with a multiple zone HVAC system and is located near public transit and in an existing building.