4M Dental Implant Center - Long Beach, CA | Sean Mohtashami, DDS
The 9,000 square-foot practice has seven operatories, cutting-edge digital and lab equipment, and a modern mid-century aesthetic.
Dr. Sean Mohtashami had lofty goals when he decided to build his fourth office, 4M Dental Implant Center in Long Beach, California. This unique practice has several features that make it different from most general dentistry offices in the Los Angeles market. It offers same-day, full-mouth restorations, has a $2 million onsite lab with the best equipment available, and includes a state-of-the-art teaching center to hold continuing education classes on implant and digital dentistry.
Dr. Mohtashami still returns to Las Vegas two days a week to care for patients in his original dental practice, All Bright Dental. He also owns two additional offices in Anaheim Hills and Newport Beach, California, but wanted to add another location that would be convenient for patients traveling to see him, and for doctors who attend his classes.
“I began All Bright Dental 20 years ago in Las Vegas,” explained
Dr. Mohtashami. “For decades, I have continued my education and training in all areas of dentistry, and I really took to implant and cosmetic dentistry to transform my patients’ lives. It’s an amazing feeling to be in a business that allows me and my team to truly change someone’s life the way a smile makeover does.”
Sliding glass doors open to each crisp treatment room, equipped with fully-integrated Dentsply Sirona chairs and treatment centers that allow procedures from endodontics to implant work. The combination of digital impressions and 3D cone beam imaging is a key equipment collaboration particularly in implant cases.
With this vision, the doctor bought a building site in a dense population center that would be large enough to house the clinical and teaching aspects of the practice.
“4M Dental Implant Center is located on a main drag in Bixby Knolls, which is a high-end area of Long Beach,” explained Ben Oliver, a Henry Schein Equipment Sales Specialist who helped coordinate the project. “It is a great location for bringing in dentists for training due to the proximity to both LAX and Long Beach airports. Dr. Mohtashami focuses his practice on full-mouth rehabs, and patients fly in from all over the nation for treatment.”
The 18,000-square-foot medical building has existing tenants on the first floor, and the doctor took over the second floor. The build was completed in December 2018, and is 9,000 square feet, with seven operatories in use and space for six more. His massive lab is actually leased and operated by a global lab-services company. This gives the doctor easy access to the company’s skilled technicians and millions of dollars’ worth of restorative equipment and technology, while providing the company with a physical location in the US.
Patients can watch the milling machine create their restorations while they wait.
“I had finally come across a space and location that was conducive to my goal of becoming an instructor while still allowing me to treat patients,” said Dr. Mohtashami. “I also loved the fact that the laboratory could be built within my own office, and I could have every aspect of treatment in-house.”
Multi-functional Practice Requires Thoughtful Floor Plan
After building four offices, Dr. Mohtashami knew what he wanted and needed in his Long Beach office to make it a success.
“He knows what works and where his profit comes from,” noted Mr. Oliver when explaining how such a large investment can become a profit center when it’s built correctly. “It’s all about streamlining your protocols and processes.”
The sterilization room joins the state-of-the-art lab in keeping patient rooms turned over and fully stocked for a wide array of dental procedures.
With such a unique combination of functions and goals, Henry Schein Integrated Design Studio designer Tracy Tock said it was a challenge to fit the puzzle pieces together and align different functions within the confines of the space.
“We really had to think about the different users and how they would access the space,” noted Ms. Tock. “For instance, if doctors were visiting the training center, we didn’t want them to walk through the clinical space.”
Ms. Tock and a team of designers, including Laura Zylstra and Mary Hollrith, collaborated and used block diagrams to pencil in major areas first before adding detail. As they moved the clinical and training area blocks around on the plan, they also worked around structural columns and an entryway that could only be located in a certain corner of the office.
“For an office of this size, it really went very seamlessly,” said Ms. Tock, who credited the project’s success to the doctor’s well-thought-out vision and
Mr. Oliver’s communication skills.
Expansive Use of Glass and Mid-Century Modern Style Create Opulent Interior
The treatment rooms are open yet private, thanks to the partial glass wall dividers.
The interior finishes and ambiance are beautiful. The design theme draws from a mid-century modern aesthetic, with straight lines, gold finishes, a heavy use of glass that extends sight lines, and contemporary furniture and lighting fixtures. Gray-planked flooring and traditional upholstered chairs and couches in velvet and leather temper the crisp modern look. Luxurious massage chairs are upholstered in rich charcoal leather. Edgy lighting streams down from the ceiling in attention-grabbing configurations.
The clinical area is crisp and sterile, befitting the complex medical procedures done inside, and sliding glass doors open to six operatories.
“I used a lot of glass to provide an open feeling, but a touch of a button can provide patient privacy with screens in the surgical rooms,” noted
Dr. Mohtashami.
All of the equipment, including the Orthophos SL cone beam, integrates easily, so the workflow is extremely efficient.
“The doctor was originally leaning toward a traditional operatory set-up until we attended a Dentsply Sirona event,” commented Mr. Oliver. “Once there, he saw how the treatment center could integrate everything he needed and allow him and his staff to complete any procedure, from endodontics to implant dentistry, using the same delivery unit.”
Because the Dentsply Sirona cabinetry is a bit larger than other types of cabinetry, the designs were tweaked to accommodate it, noted Ms. Tock. The operatory footprint was expanded to ensure ergonomics and best practices for efficiency and production were met. The doctor selected Dentsply Sirona Teneo and Intego chairs, with incorporated Piezo and Cavitron ultrasonic scalers and SiroCam AF+ intraoral cameras.
“Patients can have a massage in the Teneo chairs or view cases being designed and milled from a vantage point in the hallway, which has a large viewing area into the milling room,” said the doctor.
With most of the operatory equipment coming from Dentsply Sirona, interconnecting every part of the practice was simplified. Dr. Mohtashami chose the Orthophos 3D cone beam, KaVo NOMAD Pro 2 portable X-ray unit, and Heliodent Plus X-rays with Schick sensors. He takes digital scans with a CEREC Omnicam scanner and mills with the CEREC Speedfire and other mills. He uses the Dentrix G7 practice management system, which connects all of his practice technology together into a cohesive, cloud-based system.
The doctor was inspired to launch the 4M Institute, an onsite training center for doctors interested in expanding beyond general dentistry, because he benefited greatly from his own ongoing skills training.
“Being completely digital, everything goes much quicker,” explained
Dr. Mohtashami. “From inputting patient information to digital radiology with the NOMAD or Orthophos machine, to treatment planning, patient accounting, and digital dentistry with in-office milled crowns, we are able to improve our productivity significantly.”
4M Institute Training Center Teaches Other General Dentistry Doctors
The 4M Institute teaching facility was founded so Dr. Mohtashami can inform and inspire other general dentistry doctors. His experience of transforming himself from a general dentistry doctor into one of the best-known and respected implant dentists in the country is an achievement he wants other dentists to be able to replicate.
“Obtaining continuing education has been a major influence in my growth and success, and I am ready to share that with other dental professionals,” he said. “I am teaching courses in topics that range from practice management to full-mouth rehabilitation utilizing general, full-restoration implant solutions and digital dentistry.”
From left to right: Wael Guirgius, Equipment Service Technician; Mark Holmes, Project Coordinator; Dr. Ben Javit; Ben Oliver, Equipment Sales Specialist; Dr. Sean Mohtashami; Gary Rzepka, Regional Manager; Azita Arghaven, Field Sales Consultant; David Hamm, Equipment Service Technician; Tony Benuzzi, Digital Technology Specialist.
Mr. Oliver sourced an IT provider who was experienced in television broadcasting to work on the infrastructure of the teaching center. The design team placed clinical suites adjacent to the teaching area for viewing and broadcasting procedures.
“When the technology is used properly, it enables the team to perform its work more efficiently and accurately,” noted Dr. Mohtashami. “I must emphasize the importance of training your team to fully utilize all of the equipment and software, and to embrace where the future is moving in dentistry. My team was really excited about it.”
With 4M Dental Implant Center open just a few months, Dr. Mohtashami doesn’t have production numbers to share yet. He’s still spreading the word about the new location and ramping up to host his first set of continuing education classes which are scheduled for April.
“The next step is changing lives, one smile at a time!” he said enthusiastically. “Once the public finds out about this facility and the team, I think they will be excited to come see us.” ♦