Walking into Summerville Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, patients are greeted by a giant 3D alligator chilling on one of the waiting benches.
While they wait to get called back for their appointment, children can hang out in the waiting room or play in the game room (which sports more than 50 games). To get to the back of the office, patients walk under a whimsical 3D tree, sporting a snake and other little critters.
From the 3D props throughout the office, to the mural in the back of the practice that patients can play “I Spy” on, to the retro breakroom that pops with a blue fridge – the new office appears to be one of a kind.
Dentist Dorothy Baker said she wanted to bring something “really unique and fun” to children – something to remove the sterile medical environment and make them feel like they’re in a playground instead of a dental office.
“Our culture is authentic and patients feel that,” she said. “We’re developing something new and different.”
Baker obtained her dentistry degree at MUSC College of Dental Medicine in 2002. She received her Pediatric Dental Specialty license from The Children’s Hospital in Denver in 2007. She was the past dental director at the Coastal Center, Department of Disabilities and Special Needs and said she has a passion for special needs patients.
This is the second practice location for Baker, who said she wanted an office that saw pediatric and adult special needs patients. Summerville Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics officially opened in May in Collins Square at the corner of Berlin G. Myers Parkway and U.S. 78.
Baker said her practice will be open eight years in August. She has gone from a staff of one doctor and two employees to three doctors and 15 employees. She is joined by orthodontist Kathryn Stroud Bullwinkle and new general dentist Katie Polley. Bullwinkle operates out of the practice’s first location at 405 W. 5th North Street in Summerville.
Baker said it “took a village” to get her office done: Worlds of Wow! from Texas did the décor, with construction by Bobbitt Design Build and woodwork by Simply Southern Custom Furniture.
Baker said her staff knows their patients, saying they are like “family”, and that they want their patients to know they care about their needs.
“We all genuinely love what we do and I think that shows,” she said, adding, “You have to love what you do. …We really put our heart and soul into it.”
Baker’s advice to anyone else starting a business is to surround one’s self with people “whose advice you respect,” and be surrounded by people who are good at what they do – “because it takes a team to do it.”
“Follow your heart, don’t be afraid to take chances,” she said.
