First time visitors to Davidson Family Dentistry are many times amazed at all of the art work displayed within the walls of Davidson Family Dentistry. Everywhere you look there is something new to entertain the mind whether your interests run from classical art, whimsical, historical or political. The art work also raises questions in the minds of visitors and the purpose of this blog entry is to answer some of those questions.
“Where did all this art work come from?”
Dr. David Davidson is the collector and has been a collector since he was a young boy. His tastes are wide and diverse and he has collected art work from many different places including his travels to other countries, auctions, art shows, and art dealers. A few pieces have been commissioned from local artists to support the Iowa art community. Most of the autographs have been collected personally along with all of the photographs. Because of his varying interests, the price must always be right to make a purchase. He learned early on in the world of art that good things can happen to those who wait, whether it be when the dollar is stronger, later in the auction or a different auction or a later trip. He can be heard telling patients that he often spends pennies on the dollar for each acquisition. Dr. Davidson remembers every acquisition and is always willing to discuss a specific piece of art with a visitor. There are also black notebooks over the coat rack that describes all the art work that was here in 2005 for the grand opening of this clinic. A future retirement goal of Dr. Davidson is to update the notebooks.
“Are your dental prices higher to pay for all of this art work?”
At Davidson Family Dentistry, we compare our prices regularly using fairhealthconsumer.org and various American Dental Association survey sites to make sure that our dental pricing is reasonable as compared to other dentists in the Des Moines market. Because we use top dental equipment, supplies and labs and we hire and keep some of the highest trained (as well as the nicest) dental professionals, we realize that we cannot be the lowest cost supplier of dental care in the Des Moines area. On the other hand, because we are a larger dental clinic we are able to obtain better pricing from suppliers and we can better utilize our dental space so that we can pass those savings on to our patients.
Some of the art work on display at Davidson Family Dentistry is still owned by Dr. Davidson and is only shared by him at the office. Most pieces, especially those contained in the public areas or in the individual dental operatories, are owned by the clinic and will continue to be here even after his retirement.
“Why do you have so much art work?”
Many people think they know the answer to this question. Visitors will assume that the reason there is so much art work in our office is to support Dr. Davidson’s hobby of collecting. The assumption is only partially correct. There is also a true dental reason for all of our art work. Our goal is to make everyone as relaxed and comfortable during their dental appointment as humanly possible. One of the ways we can do that is to not look like your typical dental office. This is especially true for our high anxiety patients who come to us for sedation dentistry. If your mind is occupied with many interesting and fun things to look at and think about, then it can’t make a standard dental procedure into something scary. It’s the same reason we let you select music to your taste to listen to during your dental visit and the reason we play relaxing but mind-stimulating music in all of our public areas. Dr. Davidson also believes that being around natural beauty, beautiful music, beautiful surroundings, and beautiful art inspires our dental team to perform the “dental arts” to the highest level.
Making smiles happen!
The Davidson Team