Western Dental Kids

Many patients arrive at a dental office nervous, and in a children's practice the worry is often written on their faces. Western Dental Kids, in Suite B on Hammer Lane in north Stockton, uses its walls to change the mood, turning the waiting room and each exam room into a scene kids want to look at instead of the equipment.

The waiting room has a floor-to-ceiling mural of elephants, giraffes, zebras, a rhino, a hippo, chimps, lemurs and birds gathered at a watering hole, with the Kids Western Dental & Orthodontics logo in the upper corner above a row of blue chairs. Each exam room has its own full-wall scene behind the dental chair, set off by accent walls in bright green, pink or orange: a leopard and cub resting on a branch among oversized leaves, a cartoon safari with tiger cubs, a giraffe and monkeys in a striped jeep, and a dense painted jungle of toucans, parrots, a panda and a waterfall under a rainbow.

Large-format murals are one of the most effective ways to soften a clinical space. Printed edge to edge, they cover whole walls without clutter, and each room gets a story of its own for a child to explore while the dentist works.