No matter how many potted plants, magazine subscriptions, or the quality of the muzak, waiting rooms at the doctor's office are pretty much a bore.

So why not drop your little tyke off at the door, and go shopping?

"You can come here, drop kids off, get a few errands done," said Dr. Kevin Oliveira, who is opening an orthodontia practice at Wareham Crossing. "the long and short of [being in a mall] is it's good exposure."

And Oliveira believes that to make his practice thrive, he needs to do things a little differently.  He encourages walk-ins, and gives free consultations.  Patients can check in electronically.  And the aesthetic in the office is more a chic hair salon meets high-tech lab than the wood-paneled medical office of yesterday.

But Oliveira is a new generation of orthodontist, literally.  His father retired as an orthodontist in Mattapoisett, where Oliveira grew up.   And Oliveira the younger sees an even greater need for orthodontia in our beauty-obsessed society - you never see a movie star without great teeth, for example.

"Most of what I do is aesthetic," said Oliveira, explaining that for many people having uncorrected teeth can be a self-esteem issue.  But so can having braces...and while the headgear and metal-mouths of the past have been replaced with more unobtrusive options, he still recommends that every child be screened at age 7 so that any orthodontics can be for mostly aesthetic reasons.

"Problems are much easier to fix at that age,"  he said.  "You can save a lot of aggravation."

And if you combine it with a trip to Target, parents can save a lot of time.