Tune in to an interview with Dr. Joe Yale, owner, and dentist at Yale Pediatric Dentistry.
Dr. Yale and his team work passionately to ensure their young patients view going to the dentist as a safe and enjoyable place for them to visit and set them up with the skills to successfully manage their oral health.
Together with Dr. Yale, we created a space for them to achieve this goal with each and every patient.
IDS: Is this your first IDS office?
Dr. Joe Yale: Yes, this is my first IDS office.
I always tell parents that their child is going to have teeth their whole life and hopefully go to the dentist their whole life so let’s start this thing off right. That is certainly at the heart of our mission. To introduce children to dentistry in a non-threatening atmosphere and I very much so wanted to be a mission-driven group.
That being said, we decided to go all out with theming our office to really accomplish that mission that a child walks in here and doesn’t think that a dental office is scary, and think this is a place I want to be.
IDS: Has your IDS theming helped you expand faster?
Dr. Joe Yale: I would say that the IDS theming has helped me expand faster, it’s a very inviting atmosphere that we can provide. It is certainly something that can be a part of our web presence, can be on all of our logos, and our mail-out materials, and just in terms of an external marketing standpoint, I feel like it packs a lot of punch. When the patients come here it’s certainly more amazing than they could have imagined.
IDS: What’s your favorite part of your office?
Dr. Joe Yale: My favorite part of my IDS theming is by far our treehouse in the reception area. I think it is in the perfect location as you walk in the door. It’s so big, there is a boat in front of it, there are primary characters that basically greet you as walk in, and it looks so realistic. It’s definitely the wow factor that we were going for.
IDS: Have your patients or their parents commented on your theming? If so, what have they said?
Dr. Joe Yale: I would say every single day patients and many parents comment on the office. Whether it’s the first time they’ve been here, or they’ve been here multiple times, they want to catch me and say “this is the coolest office I’ve ever been to” or “my child woke up this morning and said ‘can we go to the dentist today?’” I’m not really exaggerating that either, I think that’s a really cool thing for a kid to say and I realize it has to do with this space and all of the things for them to see and do, not necessarily me, haha, but that’s a part of it. But I would honestly say every day someone gives an encouraging compliment in terms of what we’ve done for this office for their child’s experience.
I think our all-out Louisiana theme provides a visual manifestation of how committed we are to giving the best level of customer service in a sense, but also the best level of experience that a child could have. This is all about the people, parents, and children that we take care of.
IDS: How did you like working with IDS and what do you think about them?
Dr. Joe Yale: I worked with IDS for probably 2 years while I was working on architectural plans for the office and the site of the office and it was such a fun process. We started together in the conceptualization stage of the theme and all the little things came together. We really wanted to embody the whole Louisiana culture and we would have phone meetings, we met in person, we would have computer-linked meetings where the creators would send these sketches of ideas that I had, and we would just kind of play off of that. So, it was so fun doing something that was that creative and something that is really a new vision for your practice.
IDS: What are the benefits of office theming?
Dr. Joe Yale: I think there are many benefits to office theming. First is just the warm and inviting environment that it creates for the child. When they walk in the door and they see that you’ve gone all out to make this place very appealing to a kid they can automatically feel at home, we want them to feel at home. When the visuals and the activities aren’t there, it’s hard to really translate that. So I think it’s the comfort level that the child can have when they walk in the door.
I also think it makes a very recognizable kind of brand in terms of we do have a theme that has some continuity. It’s the Louisiana culture, and then there are these primary characters that we really play up and talk up to the kids and to the parents, and that’s reflected on our logos and website, and that’s something that IDS was able to provide in terms of the whole package that is your branding so to speak.
IDS: Would you recommend IDS office theming to your friends?
Dr. Joe Yale: I would recommend IDS office theming to anybody in the pediatric dentistry or orthodontic world. There’s no question that the translation from what you’re going for to what the parent and child see, is flawless. I think it is just an investment that is so well worth it in terms of you know, creating this overall experience for your patients, that you’re wanting to go create anyway but it just really shows your commitment to them having an incredible dental experience.
IDS: Did your employees get into the theme and have they enjoyed their work environment since the new IDS office?
Dr. Joe Yale: I would say for sure our team has really gotten into this theming thing. As I said the development of the theme took some time, so every time I would get a sketch from the IDS creators I would show it to my staff and we would get excited about the fact that we had this one character and this is what it would look like and we would brainstorm about it.
Then when it all came together and we saw the finished product it was way more amazing than we could have even imagined. And we had this opportunity to have this kind of storyline with the theme in terms of our mascot, cubby, and the other characters that really are these primary roles that every day as the assistants are taking care of a child they can really discuss the benefits of oral hygiene with them and they can incorporate our story we are trying to create into that discussion so it is really cool.
IDS: How do you feel about the quality of the IDS products?
Dr. Joe Yale: I can’t imagine the quality of the product that IDS delivered being any better. I felt like I knew what I was getting into in terms of the level of customer service, the level of quality in terms of how the murals would look, and in terms of how the characters would be built. But the way I describe it is just that it’s a world-class type of workmanship.
IDS: Do you get good value for your money?
Dr. Joe Yale: I truly think IDS theming provides amazing value for your money. Any time you build out space and you build a ground-up dental facility, there are a lot of costs associated with building that kind of specialty facility. And then to provide the environment that you are going for any way in terms of it just being an amazing visual experience for your patients, I don’t see anything you can do better to give more value to your goal of providing this and just making this amazing dental experience for your patients.
IDS: If you could get IDS to make you anything for your office and money didn’t matter because the sky was the limit, what would it be?
Dr. Joe Yale: I felt that working with IDS there were no limits, the sky was the limit in terms of what they could create for me.
That’s really the perspective I felt like we were working from. When we said let’s make this reception area look like a bayou with a treehouse, a boat, and the floor made to look like you’re on a lake, they did it.
So anything you can imagine, don’t think too small.
Dr. Joe Yale is board-certified by and a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. He is dedicated to providing each youngster with a positive experience and excellent care, to establish lasting oral health and comfort in the dental environment.
See the full office theme here.
Contact Imagination Design Studios (IDS) to get started transforming your office from a mundane to magical patient experience. Or download our inspiring look book and start imagining the possibilities in your office.
