When Dr. Andre Gillespie decided to open his own dental practice, he wanted to create an atmosphere that wouldn’t intimidate his patients — kids who range in age from infants to 20-year-olds.

He mentioned the idea of a themed office to his 16-year-old son, Khalil, who suggested dinosaurs.

“I said, ‘OK, everyone likes dinosaurs,’ ” Gillespie said.

So Gillespie’s newly opened practice, Li’l Teeth Dentistry in Aurora, has the aura of Jurassic Park, with stone gates and rock finishes.

The concrete floor is imprinted with T.rex and raptor footprints, leading children to various areas of the office. X-rays are taken inside a giant, partially excavated dinosaur egg, and the murals are accurate portrayals of dinosaurs and prehistoric foliage.

“When the kids leave here, I don’t want them to talk about going to the dentist,” said Gillespie. “I want them to talk about the cool dinosaur or fossil on the wall. If you can have positive distractions, it’s a very good experience and they’ll want to come back.”

Themed dentist offices aren’t unusual, said Molly Perira, associate executive director of the Colorado Dental Association. There’s an office in Wheat Ridge with a castle theme and one in Fort Collins with a jungle motif, she said.

“For dentists to make a greater effort to make kids more comfortable creates a more positive outlook about dentists for the rest of their lives,” Perira said.

So far, the concept has been good for business, with Gillespie’s young patients referring their friends to the office.

“I want all the kids talking about the dentist’s office,” said Gillespie, who opened at 3471 N. Salida Court about six weeks ago, near Interstate 70 and Tower Road.

Gillespie hired architect Paul Battista to design the space. Battista, who specializes in dentist offices, formerly worked in Las Vegas designing themed casino hotels. Battista has designed more than 60 dentist offices in the past five years. He said incorporating the dinosaur theme added about 30 percent to the cost of Gillespie’s space.

“This is my first opportunity to do that kind of project since I moved back to Denver,” Battista said. “We wanted to make it realistic and museum-quality.”

Battista needed the help of a local contractor that could handle the specialized work. He found Colorado Hardscapes Inc., a 63-year-old family-owned business that specializes in concrete services.

“They came to us in January and we completed construction last month,” said Karen Van Heukelem, custom concrete and rock specialist. “It moved pretty quickly and it was an aggressive schedule.”

-Margaret Jackson