I have decided to replace my old over the patient units with a state of the art DentalEz rear delivery system. However I have a BIG problem. All the plumbing connections, air, water, vacuum and electricity come up through the floor under the chair, In order to move the connections I will need to pull up all the flooring, saw and jack hammer out the concrete, lay new plumbing, re-pour the floor and re-carpet. And I will need to do it in six rooms.

What a nightmare, it will completely shut down the office for weeks and cost well over $1,000 per room. And that is just the beginning, I’ll need to move some walls, run some wires, move the electrical connections.

However just as there has been a revolution in dentistry and technology there is an ongoing revolution in office space construction. The revolution in interior space begins. with raised flooring as shown in the photo that puts voice, data, electric, plumbing, building management, fire, life and safety systems under your feet in 2.5″ of space. There is also a 4″ version. You can run connections anywhere and plug in anywhere over the entire floor plate. And when things change in the future it is an easy matter to move, add or change any of the connections.

The raised flooring partners with movable walls to reduce construction time by as much as 60%. And it allows complete flexibility.

In my office we will be able to make the change over in days instead of weeks at about half the cost of conventional construction. To see more go to the SMED website at www.smednet.com. The name is now Nexus from Hayworth. However this link still gets you there.

In general business settings the growth of advanced technology and communication systems has led to the development of innovative systems to integrate technology into the workplace. One of these is a raised access flooring system.  These systems such as Nexus from Hayworth (www.smednet.com/products) raise the entire floor about four inches leaving a space below to run power, telephone, computer and other communication connections. What makes this so effective is that when the technology changes or the space is redesigned the floor can be easily opened and new connections added simply and inexpensively.

Raised flooring systems are not being used in the dental office yet, but the idea has great potential. In the dental office we could not only run our technology connections but we could also run the basic utilities needed for dentistry such as water, air and vacuum. Then when a new technology came along or we wanted to remodel it would be simple and inexpensive to do so.