Construction is well underway on our new addition! We’re hard at work adding treatment rooms, offices, a meeting room, x-ray room and a basement. Most of the expansion is happening in the back of the building. In the front of our building, two of our present offices will be converted to treatment rooms, with a third treatment room to be added later. These changes couldn’t be added at a better time. We just added three new doctors: Dr. Alexandra Jaquery, Dr. Emily Kennedy Marlow, and Dr. Alexander Marlow, and we will finally have more rooms available to better serve our current and new patients.
We plan to offer more evening and weekend hours to accommodate busy schedules. One of the new rooms is designed for dental hygiene and sleep apnea services and the other is for dental procedures. The new hygiene room is timed perfectly with the addition of our newest hygienist, Taylor Davidson. We look forward to being able to offer more hygiene appointment times for our patients.
State of the Art 3-D X-Rays
We will now be able to offer state of the art 3-D X-Rays in house
The most exciting part of our addition is a special x-ray room that will enable us for the first time ever to provide three dimensional (3-D) radiographic images, in house. To do this, we will use our new state of the art imaging system, Sirona Orthophos XG 3D. A technology that is transforming dentistry, Cone Beam Computed Tomography provides significantly superior accuracy for diagnosis, treatment planning and evaluation. We have always been able to offer two dimensional (2-D) x-rays, but until now we had to refer those needing CT 3-D x-rays to a specialty imaging center, such as the University of Michigan Dental School. The CT scanner more predictably answers some of dentistry’s more complex questions. We are pleased to offer convenient and immediate x-rays for patients that require implants and other more advanced dental procedures.
“It’s just amazing — it’s transforming dentistry. This new 3-D imaging provides an incredible outline of the mouth and drills down to just extraordinary detail, and it immediately appears on the computer screen afterwards for us to analyze. That’s the best part,” explained Dr. Dan Kennedy. “Very few dental practices offer this type of x-ray in house. We are just delighted to be one of them. Our top priority is providing convenience and top notch care for our patients. Cutting edge technology makes this possible.” The x-rays diagnose tooth decay, dental bone diseases, gum diseases and infections, and some types of tumors, quickly and at a level of extreme detail. The sooner we detect these, the quicker we can treat and possibly even reverse any damage. And early detection can also significantly reduce treatment costs!
Quickly Diagnose Sleep Problems
Our new addition is underway and will be complete early Fall 2016
Most noteworthy, these 3-D x-rays are especially helpful in diagnosing if and how patients suffer from sleep apnea, which we can often treat in our office. As a result, we are able to quickly design custom oral appliances that will open the airway during sleep and allow you to breathe easily. This can be an excellent alternative to the CPAP machine for some patients. We offer oral appliance therapy through Apnea Alternatives which can significantly improve the quality of life and potentially even save the life of sleep apnea sufferers.
Our Progress So Far
To design and build our addition and this type of special room we enlisted the help of experienced Ann Arbor architect Carl Hueter, who has designed many projects around town including Zingerman’s Roadhouse. We are in excellent hands with local builder, Mike Forner, who has over 40 years of experience with projects like ours. Construction started Spring 2016 and is proceeding quickly.
“This has been one of the more fun and challenging projects we’ve worked on this summer — completing the construction while still safely accommodating access to the building for patients, staff, and doctors, as well as the myriad of construction related workers and heavy equipment. The trickiest part of the project was adding a full height basement that wasn’t there before. And staying on schedule despite the constantly changing weather!” explained Forner. Patients can finally experience all of the new updates early fall 2016. We can’t wait to see what you think!
How We’ve Grown
Ann Arbor Smiles is no stranger to expansions. We built our current building in 1994 when we outgrew our first home at the University of Michigan’s Wolverine Tower on State Street. Dr. Dan Kennedy and Dr. Christopher Marzonie scoped out several locations and finally decided upon Huron Parkway. It’s very centrally located in East Ann Arbor. It is conveniently close to US-23 and is easily accessible for patients from Ann Arbor, Saline, Dexter, Ypsilanti, and other surrounding areas.
Our goal behind every renovation is to create a calming and peaceful environment for our patients
Then in 2008 we added a second consult room, new carpet and paint, artwork, and updated bathrooms. We designed all new aesthetics with the goal of providing a peaceful and serene environment. In 2013 we expanded into the front part of our building, which we had rented out to another business. With the addition of Dr. Steven Gray, who joined us in 2003, we had so much demand that we needed more treatment rooms. In response, we added three new treatment rooms, including a surgical suite for more complicated procedures, a meeting room, and three offices. In addition, we updated all dental technology. This expansion finally allowed us to have a total of 10 operatories, and once our current expansion is complete we will have 13.
Future Planned Expansions
Moving forward, we have two more phases planned. In the first phase, we will update our laboratory and in the second phase, we will update our business team reception area. Stations will be a part of the design so that patients can more easily check in and check out, making the process as smooth and efficient as possible. Our reception desk will function similarly to most medical offices. Our passion is to constantly improve our practice. We can’t wait for you to experience all of our new updates!
Ask How We Can Help
Probably you have noticed that the construction can sometimes add noise to your dental experience. Please bear with us! For your convenience we can offer headphones during particularly noisy times. If you are particularly noise sensitive, we can schedule you at a time when construction is at a minimum. Thank you for your patience! Check back for more updates on everything Ann Arbor Smiles.