365 Smiles Dental Studio: ADA Design Innovation Award finalist

by Stacie Crozier

After five years of practicing as an associate dentist, Honghoa Le, D.M.D, was ready to open her own practice. After starting a searching for the right Chicago building in March 2020, and starting the design process in October 2020, her office, 365 Smiles Dental Studio, opened in May 2021.

“I just wanted to have a place of my own,” said Dr. Le. “It’s like a second home to me. I wanted the office to be comfortable and add my touches to it while being professional and modern at the same time.” Dr. Le’s new office netted finalist honors in the 2022 ADA Design Innovation Awards competition in the New Build category.

While working 60 hours a week as an associate, Dr. Le interviewed several designers and contractors but had a hard time coordinating with them as a unified team. In the end she Le chose Apex Design Build in Rosemont, Illinois, that specializes in design, architecture and construction of health care facilities, who handled all the aspects of the project and gave her updates and had her come and approve construction the construction developments over time.

“If possible, my advice is to find contractors, architects and designers that have experience working with each other and work well with each other,” said Dr. Le. “In our case, we used Apex Design Build, and had an in-house architect, designer and contractor. When changes were required or anything was unclear, they could communicate more effectively and minimize delays and I didn’t need to manage each team. Less headaches were worth the extra money.”

The exterior front of 365 Smiles Dental Studio features large windows and clean lines.

A textured feature wall, modern fireplace and a sleek, veined-front counter make a comfortable spot for patients from their first step into the office.

Even the sterilization area of Dr. Le’s office carries through the bright, streamlined design of the rest of the practice.

The corridor linking all the operatories to the front reception area is bright and lighted, and the black ceiling camouflages the varied ceiling heights.

The operatories at 365 Smiles Dental Studio feature sleek storage and a clutter-free look with unique countertop backlighting.

Dr. Le says her patients tell her they love the design and comfort of her new office, but she gets the most compliments on her spectacular, spa-worthy restroom.

The technology at 365 Smiles Dental Studio is run by a small server in the back of the practice.

Dr. Le was looking for a modern office with the latest technology, but also a space that didn’t look like a typical dental office.

“With only about 1,100 square feet to work with, it was important to be space-efficient as we had to fit in three operatories, all the requisite dental office equipment and storage area for consumables,” she said. “At the same time, I wanted the office to have character and reflect my Southeast Asian culture in a unique way.”

Dr. Le’s design team was able to create a spa-like environment. Using the latest technology, such as hand-held X-ray units, digital imaging, intraoral scanners and a mini-sized computer server rack required less space than traditional larger units and eliminating paper charts and creating fewer traditional impressions meant less storage was needed for record keeping.

She chose sliding glass barn doors with partial glass partitions to make the rooms feel bigger and lighter without breaking the budget and used a color palate with lots of whites and light grays for the walls and fixtures to open up the spaces and chose to paint the main hallway’s ceiling black to mask the stepped, irregular ceiling and make it look more uniform. She spent many hours with her team picking samples and creating mockups of the design elements that reflected a Vietnamese French design theme: light fixtures in the corridor that resemble the pads of the lotus, Vietnam’s national flower; backlit countertops in the operatories to create a unique lighting style and a spa-quality restroom with carefully selected tiles and fixtures meant to pamper her patients.

Dr. Le loves all of the spaces of her new office, but says her favorite is her desk in the reception area. The reception area shines with a textured feature wall with a television and sleek fireplace, modern bronze light fixtures and a welcoming beverage bar and water fountain/dispenser.

“I like working at my desk at reception,” she said. “That’s where I do my surgical planning and designs. I get a lot of compliments when patients first walk in and see the reception area. But I get the most compliments about the restroom.”