Pinero had very specific ideas about what she needed to bring her vision to life: 3,500 square feet (double her original space), within five miles of her current practice (to make it easier for her existing patients), and reasonably priced.

“It took me a good year to find the right location,” Pinero said. “At first, nothing was really perfect for me. Then one weekend I got a call from my real estate agent, who told me about a newly available property. The building was 45 years old with a bunch of little offices ‘ little holes, really ‘ here and there. I showed my husband and he said, ‘Are you sure this is the one you want?’ But I closed my eyes and envisioned how it would look, and knew this is what I wanted.”

The first thing that Pinero did when she found the building, was to call on Patterson Dental, specifically Cruz. “Ileana is a really important piece of this story,” Pinero said. “I had worked with her since the beginning and trusted her opinion.” Before Pinero made an offer, Cruz explored the building and pointed out the low ceilings and other considerations that would have to be addressed in order to meet Pinero’s needs.

The doctor then had a conversation with her designer, contractor and architect to ensure the building would work. “I was very lucky. I believe so much in working as a team and I had a great team in place,” Pinero said. “We worked together and came up with the idea of exposing the trusses to enlarge the ceiling and make the interior look more modern.”

Armed with a plan, Pinero made an offer on the building, and it was accepted. In order to finance her new building, Pinero sold her practice, including the equipment and lease, to another dentist, but was able to retain her patients.

“Buying my own building gave me opportunity to do things the way I wanted,” Pinero said. “It let me double my size and it is one of the smartest things I could have done financially.”

Pinero’s design inspiration for the new practice came from her desire to immediately put patients at ease. From the outside in, her practice feels more like a health spa than a dental practice, with modern lines and bright accents. Pinero came up with the idea to break up the plain square lines of the building’s exterior and match the shape of the elegant curved-glass enclosed consultation room inside.