Showcasing what is currently possible in dentistry

With more than 50 employees, Zahngesundheit Frechen is one of the largest dental clinics in the Cologne region in Germany. The clinic owners Yvonne Reinartz, Dr Jürgen Schmitz and Maximilian von Kleinsorgen work alongside six other dentists to provide dental treatments for their patients. The clinic, specialised in orthodontics, implantology, aesthetic dentistry and dental prophylaxis, recently expanded to a second location close to the main clinic, increasing the number of treatment rooms by five.

“Our main location has twelve treatment rooms, three of which are used for prophylaxis. The facilities were simply no longer enough for our whole team. We were constantly getting in each other’s way,” Maximilian von Kleinsorgen laughs.

“When it then became possible to expand our clinic with five new treatment rooms across the street, we quickly made the decision to seize the opportunity and started planning the expansion with our long-time partner NWD,” von Kleinsorgen tells.

Sustainable Future Clinic made possible

The dental team at Zahngesundheit Frechen has high requirements for new technology and emphasises innovative ways of working. This was also the foundation for planning the five new treatment rooms. Therefore, the owner trio decided to rely completely on Planmeca in equipping the new rooms with modern technology.

Zahngesundheit Frechen’s new treatment rooms are equipped with state-of-the-art technology.

“Internally, we have always talked about a ‘Future Clinic’, because we want to show what is possible in dental care. We already had Planmeca’s imaging devices and intraoral scanner at our main location, and we liked the company’s idea of connecting all the devices together. As we wanted to develop our digital workflows even further, we decided to go with Planmeca for our clinic expansion,” von Kleinsorgen explains.

“For us, the environmental aspect is also important in showing what is currently possible. For instance, the dental unit-integrated Planmeca ActiveAqua™ water treatment system is a great example of an innovation which takes environmental aspects into account: it purifies the water without added chemicals.”

“The digital possibilities combined with green thinking led us to rely completely on Planmeca technology in equipping our new treatment complex,” von Kleinsorgen concludes.

The Zahngesundheit Frechen dental clinic relies completely on Planmeca technology in their new treatment rooms.

The treatment rooms at the dental clinic are now full of new technology. Maximilian von Kleinsorgen names the Planmeca Emerald™ S intraoral scanner as his absolute favourite. According to him, the scanner offers excellent image quality at an affordable price while also providing “a playground” for digital dentistry.

“Digital impressions were introduced already several years ago and have become an industry standard. I have fun testing what is possible beyond the usual standards. This I can do with Planmeca Emerald S and its open file formats,” von Kleinsorgen states.

Maximilian von Kleinsorgen considers Planmeca Emerald™ S intraoral scanner his favourite piece of technology.

Innovative room design allows new opportunities for training

Surprisingly, Maximilian von Kleinsorgen names the waiting room as one of the highlights of the new clinic. Thanks to the innovative design, the room can also be used for training.

“The waiting room is equipped with movable seating, a projector and a screen board, so we can also use it for dental training. An opaque glass panel separates the waiting room from a treatment room, and the panel can be switched to clear by simply pressing a button. This way, dental operations can be followed live at the clinic without compromising infection control,” von Kleinsorgen describes.

“With the recently installed Planmeca Solanna™ Vision operating light, we can also record treatments using the operating light’s integrated cameras and display the procedures with the projector in our training room.”

The waiting room, which can also be used for trainings, is one of the highlights of the clinic.

Succeeding in an extensive project with a competent partner

Expanding a dental clinic with five new rooms is an extensive project, especially alongside normal daily clinical work. Zahngesundheit Frechen succeeded in the project in only six months, although they did need to resolve a few unexpected issues along the way.

“As both of our clinics actually belong together and have one client base, we wanted to have all our files on one and the same server. We asked our local telephone company what it would cost to connect the clinics with a fixed network. The price was astronomical, though,” von Kleinsorgen reveals.

“However, we were able to solve the issue ourselves. We currently synchronise the data from both clinics over a WiFi connection. The files from the new clinic are transferred across the street with the help of point-to-point bridge technology and saved on the server at our main location.”

Maximilian von Kleinsorgen offers a piece of advice for colleagues who are considering expanding their clinic. “Be creative and try thinking outside the box. I personally recommend turning to a trusted partner with your concept ideas and searching for suitable solutions together with them.”

“We are grateful to Sales Manager Michael Beckers and his team at NWD for all the support,” von Kleinsorgen acknowledges.

Copy: Mari Koivunen
Images: Tatiana Kurda

The interview with Maximilian von Kleinsorgen was originally published in German by Planmeca’s distributor in Germany, NWD.