Hampton Dental celebrates opening of new building in heart of downtown

A new era nearly a year in the making for Hampton Dental has begun.

Last Wednesday, Hampton Dental staff began seeing patients at its new location in downtown Hampton. The new building occupies a previously vacant lot at the corner of First Street NW and First Avenue NW.

Dr. Jake Sorensen said the new building will include six operatories, an operatory for children, a larger waiting room with a kids’ room, a plumbed in nitrous system and more area for staff for sanitation and breaks. The operatories contain adjustable televisions patients can watch while they undergo their procedures. Each room is also equipped with mirrored glass, so no one outside the building can see into the rooms. An off street parking lot was added to the east side of the property.

Sorensen said the idea behind the new building stemmed from the inability to grow at the previous building at 27 Federal St. North.

“Without having any room for more patients and staff, we decided that having this lot over here, it was time to pull the trigger and move over here,” he said.

An added bonus of the new location, Sorensen said, is that customers and employees can continue to easily and conveniently support fellow downtown businesses. He said one reason to remain in the downtown area is so customers can shop before or after procedures and staff has quick access to meals and other needs.

“We have a lot of patients when they come from different towns or even from Hampton to come down to us, they go out to eat, do their shopping downtown or hang out downtown,” he said. “We definitely wanted to be part of downtown versus going out to the periphery areas.”

Hampton Dental was originally scheduled to celebrate the opening of the new building on April 1, but complications due to the COVID-19 pandemic delayed operation in the new facility outside of a few emergency procedures.

With Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ go-ahead earlier in the month for dentist offices to once again see patients, Hampton Dental was finally able to welcome patients into the new location. The staff took a few days following Reynolds’ proclamation to make sure the building was ready and safety and sanitary precautions related to the virus were in place before officially opening last week. Sorensen said that staff will prescreen patients and take their temperatures when they arrive at the facility. Staff takes additional precautions and wear specialized masks and appointments are spaced out to increase time between procedures.

“One of the things when we built this building, we wanted everything to be quiet and patients having their own individual rooms and more space and that’s lent itself well to this whole COVID crisis trying to keep everyone further apart,” he said.

Despite the COVID-19 related setbacks, Sorensen said the staff is ready and eager to see patients in the new facility and patients are likewise excited to visit.

“The whole staff, we’re all so excited to be open again and the patients who have called in…the first thing they say is ‘We can’t wait to see the new building,’” he said.