MOSES LAKE — The new Skyview Dental clinic is open.

“It’s been under planning for about two and a half years,” said Dr. Calvin Despain at the clinic’s ribbon cutting Friday. “We broke ground in March of this year and then just finished up and started seeing patients a couple of weeks ago.”

The 6,000-square-foot clinic features 10 treatment rooms with brand new equipment, arranged in an open, airy space that allows Despain and his staff to move around easily between patients.

“It’s built around patient comfort, Despain said. “We’ve got the most advanced equipment and dental chairs that are available … We do same-day crowns. We have 3D printing where we can get dentures made faster. We have our 3D X-rays … We have our little special surgery rooms (where) we can have a nice private place for people to be who have longer procedures.”

A long hall connects eight operatories, each of which has a dental chair, an interchangeable tool station and two TV screens, one mounted to the ceiling and facing straight down.

“The one on the wall is for X-rays, so Doctor can show during treatment and explain to the patients what’s going on in that screen. The overhead one is for TV for the patients so when they’re lying back in treatment, they can watch TV.”

Three operatories are used exclusively for cleanings; the rest are adaptable to whatever Despain needs to do for a patient.

One operatory is set apart a little bit from the others. Welker said it's the Quiet Room. That’s for IV sedation, a technique Despain became certified to perform earlier in the year. Administering a sedative intravenously is a specialized process that not all dentists can use, one that enables the dentist to have more control over the dose and makes the patient experience less discomfort.

“If we have little kids who are getting work done, we’ll bring them back here, because there is a door that we can shut,” Welker said. “(Despain) gives them some medication before they come in, and then he places the IV, and then the doctor has two assistants come in, and then he does the work. One assistant keeps an eye on the monitor to make sure everything’s going OK and lets (Despain) know when it’s time for his next dose (from) the IV. And then the other assistant assists (Despain) on his side for the treatment.”

The new clinic, located on Yonezawa Boulevard just up the road from the new Samaritan Hospital, is a vast improvement on the building Skyview Dental moved out of along East Hunter Place, just off Pioneer Way.

“It’s a lot of space in here,” Welker said. “We’re not on top of each other anymore (like) in the old office.”

Despain has been practicing in Moses Lake for about four years, he said in a previous interview with the Columbia Basin Herald. He said he’s a big believer in taking the fear out of a trip to the dentist.

“This is a reflection of how we feel about our patients and our community, that we want the very best for them,” he said. “This is one of the nicest and most state-of-the-art dental offices that you will find anywhere, and it’s pretty cool that we have it right here in Moses Lake. … People (have) complained in the past about doctors coming and going and not sticking around (in) the area. We really want to change the way people think about Moses Lake and about going to the dentist in general. We want it to be a great place to go.”

    Skyview Dental Assistant Veronica Welker shows some of the new clinic’s state-of-the-art equipment
  

    The operatory rooms at the new Skyview Dental clinic are designed for maximum patient comfort.
  

    Dr. Calvin Despain with a few of the 12 staff members at Skyview Dental. From left: Veronica Welker, Esmie Tercero, Despain, Jaime Adams and Melissa Garland-Koon.