Dental offices must ensure that their patients are well attended when visiting. That means a patient experience that doesn’t only focus on clean, healthy teeth but also on a calm, relaxing atmosphere. For this reason, newer offices are seeking to add audio, video, lighting, security, and other environmental systems. One such modern dental office in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada, turned to commercial and residential integration firm Access Granted, Inc. to make powering up and controlling these systems simple and effortless — and help make patients for more comfortable during their exams and procedures.

“With the addition of screens, audio, lighting and other systems that can aid in the patient experience, there’s a lot going on in a dental office that staff have to oversee and control. Opening up the office and getting patient and surgical rooms ready need to be as easy as pressing a button,” said Tim Raymond, owner of Access Granted, Inc. “For integrated office control, our go-to solution is RTI.”

With RTI at the helm, Access Granted was able to provide customized yet simple control to suit the dental office. Using RTI’s Integration Designer programming software, all AV and building systems were incorporated into a single ecosystem and customized for the dental office’s team, resulting in an easy-to-use control experience.

To address the lighting and building access control objectives for this project, Access Granted installed Lutron RadioRA2 Connected Lighting Control System, DSC PowerSeries security system, and ICT ProtegeWX access control. In addition, each of the exam and surgical rooms were equipped with a display and Sonos audio system. An RTI XP-8v Control Processor is the brains of the system delivering advanced control throughout the office.

Access Granted was able to fully integrate the control processor and the Lutron RadioRA2 system, which provides 0-10V dimmable feature lighting and task lighting in each room; the DSC security and ICT access solutions, which arms and disarms the systems. The Sonos audio system is also brought under RTI control, with audio distributed around the building via two RTI AD-8x and one AD-4x audio distribution systems.

Using Integration Designer’s templates, Access Granted was able to create straightforward control screens for the tasks the staff needs to perform, such as turning all the lights on and off, the audio system, and displays at the start of the day. From an iPad, the staff simply taps the screen that reads, “Press here to Turn Room On,” and it’s done. RTI can even automate small but noteworthy patient touches as well, like powering up towel warmers.

At the end of the day, staff push the “Away” button on the iPad to arm the security system; power down the displays, audio, and lighting equipment; and even shut off the office’s water supply, which is an insurance requirement when no one is in the building.

“RTI has made going to the dentist office fun and more comfortable for patients and simple to manage for staff,” said Raymond. “Every patient that comes in notices all the details — from displays, music, and lighting options to warm towels. It’s all done with ease using RTI.”