Keeping everything possible in-house fit perfectly with the philosophy that the dentists shared: providing elite, comprehensive care. “The bottom line is providing the best care to patients,” Robbins said. “One of the ways we do that is by offering all the different types of services under one roof – from dental implants, to root canals, to full-mouth restorative and cosmetic cases, to complete orthodontics – with an array of sedation options to tailor-fit each case. We take the idea of comprehensive dentistry seriously and that’s something that’s very important to us – that the patient feels comfortable and can always come to us regardless of what they need.”

The space may not have been the most important piece of the doctors’ three-pronged approach, but it was vitally important nonetheless. The first step was determining where they would like to locate the practice they would establish.

“We put a lot of thought into where we wanted to go, and we located this area in a professional building,” Robbins said. “There are a number of office buildings around us, which means our patient base is people who live in that area, and also those who just work there and live in other parts of town.”

What McRay and Robbins liked about the latter portion of the patient base is that it had additional opportunity. When a patient who works in the area visits the practice and sees the type of dentistry they provide, they can bring their family from another area to experience it, too. That led to the next step: creating an office that is worthy of bringing your family across town. There were a number of factors McRay and Robbins considered.

“When you walk into a dental office, there are preconceived notions that it smells like a dental office, or it looks like a dental office,” McRay said. “When you walk into our office, we wanted something elegant and soothing that would help our patients relax. If you feel like you’re in a five-star setting, you expect a five-star treatment. We feel like we have achieved that with the help of everyone from our architect, to our designer, to Patterson.”

As part of the five-star experience, Robbins said colors, finishes and technology were important elements. Chiefly important also was the layout and patient flow of the space. They wanted a space with open bays for patient comfort and closed suites for patient privacy, each where appropriate. They wanted a patient flow with separate patient check-in and check-out areas for privacy and professionalism on patients’ behalf. With wide hallways, clean lines and details that were meticulously selected, the practice “gives off a feeling not only of exceptional technology, but also extraordinary patient care,” Reyes said.

Patients have loved the practice and it has proven to be everything McRay, Robbins and all who worked on it hoped it would be. Beyond that, it has garnered additional recognition. Wells Fargo Practice Finance holds an annual Dental Office Design Competition with a number of award categories. The Dentists at Houston Westchase was named the 2015 Dental Office Design of the Year – Small Practice. Wells Fargo lists the following criteria as its basis for judging: “Best overall facility as evidenced by functional design, efficient interior space planning and appropriate integration of dental equipment and technology.”

It was high praise for McRay, Robbins and the practice they created – not bad for a couple of dentists who hadn’t intended to work together. And while they were honored to receive the recognition, they’re not resting on their laurels. Every day is another opportunity to provide the best possible dental care to a new group of patients.

The longest-running couple in dental school just keeps on running.