The walls at 90 Cypress Way East, Suite 20, in North Naples, Fla., are in the same place as they always were. The same six operatories still host many of the same patients they have for years. But, in a lot of ways, the similarities stop there

Oivind Jensen, DDS, and Sean Carr, DDS, both practiced in the space separately before circumstances brought them together, and together they brought in technology.

Jensen has owned the space since he built it in 1997, having started practicing in Naples in 1991. In 2008, he sold his practice and leased the space to a practice that eventually brought Carr in as an associate. When that practice moved into a new space, Jensen was left with three choices. “The way I saw it, I had to rent it out as–is; refurbish it and rent it out; or refurbish it and occupy it myself,” he said. “My wife [Phyllis] and I decided we were going to renovate the office ourselves and occupy it, and bring in a younger dentist who could continue the practice.”

At the same time, Carr found himself needing to make a decision. He considered working out a contract with the dentist he’d practiced with in Jensen’s space, but ultimately wasn’t able to make it happen. Then, he talked with Jensen, who had planned to upgrade the practice technologically. “This presented itself as an ideal situation,” Carr said. “I could work with a familiar space, that I knew I was comfortable in, combined with the opportunity to re–equip it, go with the top–of–the–line technology I’ve always wanted. It was a great opportunity to expand on what I was already doing.”

Jensen and Carr formed their own businesses, through which they would practice separately under one roof with some shared costs. It was important that they also shared a vision for the practice moving into the future.

“Dentistry is evolving very rapidly,” Jensen said. “I realized after being away from it for four years that a lot of innovation happened and new equipment was available that wasn’t very common even that short time ago. I decided if I was going to go back into it, I was going to go back in and do it the best way I could possibly do it, with the best equipment, so I could do the best dentistry.”

Fortunately for both doctors, Carr shared that viewpoint. Taking advantage of the advancing technology had always been part of his long–term plan. “A lot of the horror stories you hear from people about how they feel about dentistry weren’t because of the dentistry that was being practiced in the past,” he said. “It’s just that our current technology didn’t exist. We can do so much more today in less time, as accurately as in the past, and better in many cases.”

Once they told their Patterson team about their desire to bring new technology into their practice, Equipment Specialist Ross Plamann and Territory Representative Ken Stager took Dr. Jensen and his wife to A-dec headquarters in Newberg, Ore.