The space she selected may have been the unlikeliest.

Built in 1939, it first hosted North Bend’s phone company. Aging residents of North Bend still remember coming in to pay their phone bills at 142 Main Ave. N. Later, it hosted a Montessori school, but it was in rough shape when Garwood first looked at it. “It had taken a toll over the years and become a bit of an eyesore,” she said. “We weren’t sure about its potential when a friend first pointed it out to us. In fact, we were skeptical. But we took a closer look and realized it could be perfect.”

In order for the building to house a dental practice, significant structural changes were needed. Walls were moved and new beams were added. It gave Garwood the best of both worlds: an existing structure that she didn’t have to build from the ground up, and a fully customizable interior.

“It was like a blank slate,” she said. “Every treatment room has a giant window looking out at the mountain, and we were also able to add a great overhead crawl space that has made it easy to plumb and put anything where we wanted it.”

There were only a few non-negotiables for Garwood in establishing her practice’s floor plan. One was developing left-handed friendly operatories, as Garwood herself is left-handed, as are several of her staff members.

“My old office only had an exit on my assistant’s side, on the right-hand side of the chair. That was very cumbersome anytime I needed to leave and do a hygiene check in another room,” she said. “My rooms are completely ambidextrous now. Anyone could come in and work there, left- or right-handed. Everything can be switched back and forth really easily. That was my biggest goal. It’s been a big deal for all of us.”

An advantage to moving to a new facility was that Garwood was able to stay open in her old practice until the day before she moved. The construction process was smooth, and the move happened on time and without much ado. Garwood’s husband, Troy, served as a project manager and worked closely with Patterson Dental team members to keep everything on schedule.