Best Practice
Five-star Finish – How Dr Kyle Mervin and Dr Nicole Floyd built their dream dental spa on the New South Wales Central Coast
Dentist husband and wife, Drs Kyle Mervin and Nicole Floyd, don’t do things by halves. Their vision for a brand new luxury dental spa on the New South Wales Central Coast was meticulously planned down to the colour of the silk cushions in the relaxation lounge.
If global trends are anything to go by, the popularity of luxury dental spas is about to soar in Australia. Anecdotal evidence suggests over five per cent of dental clinics in the United States offer some kind of spa service—from aromatherapy massages to facial rejuvenation.
A culmination of wanting to pursue the dream of opening a new practice and acting on this burgeoning trend, Dr Kyle Mervin undertook continuing education in the area of facial injectables with the Australasian Association of DentoFacial Aesthetics. “I really enjoyed that kind of work and this sparked the idea for us to open our own dental spa. Facial treatments such as Botox and fillers from dentists are common in Europe and the United States, so I knew we had to incorporate this into our vision for a new clinic,” says Dr Mervin. “It’s the future of dentistry.”
A year of careful planning ensued—most importantly choosing where to open the luxury dental spa. “When we started out a year ago, West Gosford was a worn-out, old area,” says Dr Nicole Floyd. “There was only one other one-chair dental surgery there and he was retiring. To be honest it wasn’t an area of growth at that stage.”
But all that changed when a new business park was planned for the sleepy suburb. Major home renovation conglomerates, Masters Home Improvement and Bunnings Warehouse, snapped up space. “The all-new premises at the business park really revitalised the area,” says Dr Floyd. “We anticipated the area was going to take off, even if other people didn’t.”
It was a gamble that both dentists were conscious of and finding a lender who understood their vision was paramount. “We did our homework and knew what the hurdles were. If you just look at the demographics of the area, you could think, ‘Hmm, well, I don’t know if that’s an area where you want to invest.’
And certainly, that was the feedback we got from some other finance companies,” says Dr Floyd. “They said, ‘You might want to start off finding smaller premises because I don’t think this is the best way to go. Maybe, you should start off with the onechair practice.’ We had seen lots of businesses before, where people started off small and then there’s no way to develop. They outgrow their premises and then are faced with the task of moving locations. Whereas for us, we’ve got two chairs in there now and room for three more. So, we’re kind of future-proofing it.” And it was this foresight that Investec backed.
“Right from the start, Investec supported our grand designs, even when the budget inevitably blew out. There were a few times when we talked to Tony (Kalmin of Investec) about our budget and he would say, ‘Okay, it’s always going to be a bit more than you expect it to be’. When we finished the design he came in and had fantastic feedback. He said, ‘I can see where the money went! It’s been well spent’.”
Obviously designing a luxury spa from scratch was no easy task. “We literally had to start at the beginning with everything, from trying to get the floorplan right to making it look spacious and not clinical,” says Dr Floyd. “It took a lot of tweaking but it’s really come together beautifully, thanks to Inline and Antony Poate from AP Design. Their advice was invaluable because we got to draw on their experience in fitting out dental surgeries and learn from other people’s mistakes,” says Dr Floyd. “We didn’t want it to be clinical. Lots of people have negative experiences with old dental surgeries. The sounds and smells take them back to those bad experiences. We wanted to make a positive experience, so when you walk in, it doesn’t smell like a dental surgery. There’s no stark white walls. We used very warm, inviting colours to create a calm surrounding and we offer distractions such as a refreshments bar and TVs on the ceiling and lots of things to distract from the fact that they’re in a dental surgery. There is soothing music and laughing gas is available—even sleep dentistry if they need it.” However, it is the aesthetic options that are the star attraction at Riverside Dental Spa.
“A great smile is more than just white teeth,” says Dr Floyd. “For example a female patient came into our clinic and she was getting married. She had a very gummy smile and wanted her gums cut back, which is major surgery with a lot of possible side effects. Kyle suggested for her to try a bit of Botox instead to lower her lip line, and she was thrilled with the results. She looked amazing—so it’s kind of thinking outside the box and looking at the whole face using a variety of treatment options that we are proud to offer.”
Dr Floyd says clients can visit the clinic solely for facial rejuvenation treatments such as Botox for wrinkle reduction and fillers for face and lips and be secure in the knowledge that as dentists, they have training in facial anatomy that many other clinics don’t. “Absolutely, you can get Botox and lips fillers, but there are also lots of things to do with the dental side of things, for prominent issues such as relaxing jaw muscles and treating grinding problems where we do injections as well.”
At a time that is traditionally quiet in dentistry, Drs Mervin and Floyd are very happy. “We did cash-flow projections for our business plans and we’ve certainly exceeded the patient numbers and figures in those,” says Dr Floyd. “We are very pleased with the general response to date. The most common reaction is, ‘Well, I’ve never been in a dental surgery like this before. It looks great!’, adds Dr Mervin. “Patients have been gushing with their appreciation for our surgery, staff and standards of care. We have had many patients recommending family and friends, which is the biggest compliment we can receive.”
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