# Why dentists went to open spaces for patient treatment **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 12, 2024, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dentists-went-to-open-spaces-for-patient-treatment/1011560 "2024-12-12T15:31:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dentists-went-to-open-spaces-for-patient-treatment/1011560/1 "2024-12-12T15:31:16Z")
Continuing the discussion from [Fast Food Kitchens](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-kitchens/1011494/24): > [@Fast Food Kitchens](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-kitchens/1011494/24): > > This may be related to dentists having open spaces for exams/treatment, so patients don’t get the idea that horrible agonies are being perpetrated behind closed doors. Or maybe the rash of sexual abuse cases in the 80s & 90s I believe? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dentists-went-to-open-spaces-for-patient-treatment/1011560/2 "2024-12-12T16:37:27Z")
I suppose that didn’t occur to me since my current and previous dentists (who either had open space office design or kept doors open) have been women. MDs don’t typically have open door setups, though having an assistant/chaperone in the room when examining a patient of the opposite sex, especially during “sensitive” exams, has gotten to be standard of care. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dentists-went-to-open-spaces-for-patient-treatment/1011560/3 "2024-12-12T16:41:30Z")
I’ve not seen open plan dentist offices. My own dentist has a dozen-ish exam rooms with full floor-to-ceiling permanent walls. Some have doors, some do not. All the workers, from dentists to oral surgeons to hygienists to reception clerks, are women. Which may or may not bear on any of this. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dentists-went-to-open-spaces-for-patient-treatment/1011560/4 "2024-12-12T16:51:31Z")
I went to a couple of open orthodontists offices during the 60s. Regular dentists can get involved with some pretty bloody and noisy procedures. I wouldn’t want to be a dentist or patient in an open space during procedures like that. I can see reasons why it would be a problem for some simpler procedures also. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dentists-went-to-open-spaces-for-patient-treatment/1011560/5 "2024-12-12T17:49:40Z")
My dentist moved a few years ago from an old converted house with the treatment rooms in enclosed rooms to a _very_ expensive purpose-built building with rooms with glass walls facing the hallway and a glass barn door to enter and exit. Very visible from the hallway in other words. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dentists-went-to-open-spaces-for-patient-treatment/1011560/6 "2024-12-12T18:11:17Z")
My dentist is old fashioned, i guess. She has three exam rooms, and they are all enclosed rooms. She does leave the doors open, though. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dentists-went-to-open-spaces-for-patient-treatment/1011560/7 "2024-12-12T18:21:36Z")
My dentist has cubicals. 6 ft walls with no door. There’s enough privacy and people passing in the hall would notice any inappropriate activity. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dentists-went-to-open-spaces-for-patient-treatment/1011560/8 "2024-12-12T18:44:38Z")
My dentist (all women in the practice) has semi-open treatment rooms - open enough to overhear some strange conversations. Fortunately, whenever I’ve been there, I haven’t heard screaming from other rooms. 😱 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dentists-went-to-open-spaces-for-patient-treatment/1011560/9 "2024-12-12T19:45:23Z")
The title of this thread immediately reminded me of a piece by Woody Allen, _If the Impressionists had been Dentists_ (1978). Here’s the relevant excerpt: > [@](#): > > Dear Theo > I think it is a mistake to share offices with Gauguin. He is a disturbed man. He drinks Lavoris in large quantities. When I accused him, he flew into a rage and pulled my D.D.S off the wall. In a calmer moment, I convinced him to try filling teeth outdoors and we worked in a meadow surrounded by greens and gold. He put caps on a Miss Angela Tonnato and I gave a temporary filling to Mr Louis Kaufman. There we were, working together in the open air! Rows of blinding white teeth in the sunlight! Then a wind came up and blew Mr Kaufman’s toupee into the bushes. He darted for it and knocked Gauguin’s instruments to the ground. Gauguin blamed me and tried to strike out but pushed Mr Kaufman by mistake, causing him to sit down on the high speed drill. Mr Kaufman rocketed past me on a fly, taking Miss Tonnato with him. The upshot, Theo, is that Rifkin, Rifkin, Rifkin and Meltzer have attached my earnings. Send whatever you can. > Vincent > **[If the Impressionists had been dentists by Woody Allen, 1978](https://queen-evie.livejournal.com/157386.html)** > > Dear Theo Will life never treat me decently? I am wracked by despair! My head is pounding. Mrs Sol Schwimmer is suing me because I made her bridge as I felt it and not to fit her ridiculous mouth. That's right! I can't work to order like a common... ---
**Author:** ![ByrdJrHs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc79bd/32.png) [@ByrdJrHs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ByrdJrHs)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dentists-went-to-open-spaces-for-patient-treatment/1011560/10 "2024-12-12T19:54:33Z")
My only experience with this was when I got sent to Dental Specialist for Temporomandibular Joint issues, aka TMJ, aka the clicky jaw thing. It was more like a roomy barbershop. This was in the early 90s. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2024, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dentists-went-to-open-spaces-for-patient-treatment/1011560/11 "2024-12-14T03:08:48Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > My dentist has cubicals. 6 ft walls with no door. Same with mine, about a dozen of them in a large room. A couple weeks back when I was waiting for the novicaine to work, I could hear the conversation in the next chair. I couldn’t see anything and I could also hear some talking in the walkway as others walked by.