After several months of closing and reopening due to COVID-19 and moving, Kalona Family Dental has opened its new location on East Avenue.

Dr. Tammy Grimm said Kalona Family Dental previously had two locations, one in town and the other in Riverside, but neither location had ideal parking or working space.

“We were outgrowing both of our offices really badly, so I was looking for a property to merge the two offices together and this new location is more than adequate,” Dr. Tammy Grimm said. “We didn’t have enough parking at either location either, and I wanted to work with my associate (Dr. Erika Hahn) in the same facility, so we can work together now, we have a lot more space.”

Grimm said the former Kalona office had three treatment rooms while Riverside had four. The new building has eight, plus a larger waiting room and front desk area than either previous building.

Grimm said relocating a dental office was more complicated than moving a typical business.

“It’s a decent undertaking because the equipment is not something that we can move ourselves,” Grimm said. “We have to have a company come in and disconnect and then reconnect in the new location… We were combining some of our existing equipment with new equipment also, so it took some strategic planning to make that happen.”

“It has to be overseen by a dental equipment company,” she said. “I used Henry Shine, a medical and dental equipment company… they oversaw everything, and I think they did hire some professional movers and once it was physically moved, they came in and set it all up.”

The new location was previously a dental office owned by Dr. David Conwell, who retired in 2006 but lived in a residence attached to the building until his death last spring.

“I contacted his wife to see if they had any interest in selling the building because it was structured kind of ideally for a dental office,” Grimm said. “It needed a lot of updating, but the treatment rooms were all in place, which made it appealing… I think it’s kind of neat that it gets to stay a dental office, Mrs. Conwell was pretty happy about that.”

Although the building didn’t require any structural changes, Grimm said it needed extensive internal work, including new roofing, interior and exterior painting, flooring, electrical work and windows.

Grimm said she planned to sell both former buildings soon, herself, but didn’t know what they would become.

“They really won’t be suitable for a dental office just because a lot of the equipment was taken out of them,” she said.

Grimm said she was excited to use the improvements of the new location

“I’m just thrilled to be able to share this with the community and have an improved facility to treat our patients in,” Grimm said. “I look forward to being here for a really long time.”