5 reasons for wasted dental appointments—and how to avoid them
Young or old, we all have a limited number of workdays and a limited number of appointments each workday. Productive appointments are the life blood of any dental practice, and wasted appointments are, well, a waste of precious time! Let's look at a few common reasons for wasted appointments and see how to remedy them.
Broken appointments and last-minute cancellations: Missed appointments and late cancellations are absolutely maddening! We have heard the most ridiculous excuses for missing appointments, from "I had to meet with my arborist," to "My bunny had an appointment at the vet," to "I had to get my nails done." Rarely do patients tell you the truth like "I forgot" or "I didn't want to spend the money" or "It's only a cleaning and I didn't want to go" or "I am afraid of the dentist."
Office policies, appointment reminder software, personal phone calls, and texts only go so far. A certain number of patients will still miss their appointments, leaving the practice with holes in the schedule and wasted time. A reward/punishment approach may help. At the time of scheduling, the practice can offer a 5% discount for payment in full for the upcoming appointment, with the agreement that if they cancel with less than 48 hours' notice, or if they show up more than 10 minutes late, they sacrifice what they paid.
Fear: Regarding the fear issue, consider getting properly trained in sedation services if you are not already providing this service. Sedation cures fear of the dentist and helps patients keep their appointments.
Bite adjustments: Bite adjustment visits are also a waste of time and are usually a no-charge post-op visit. It helps to take a few extra minutes when the restoration is completed to check the bite in all manner of positions-lying down, sitting up, in centric occlusion, in function, and any other way you can think of.
Crown recementation: Appointments for recementing crowns that you have done recently are usually not charged and rightly so. Recementing zirconia crowns has become an especially common complaint among many dentists. But these appointment times are wasted and not productive. It's well worthwhile to get back to the basics and review principles of resistance, retention, and adhesion/bonding by taking continuing education in the basics of crown and bridge and bonding.
Painful injections: Many dentists run into "slumps" with regard to their success in administering profound local anesthesia. It happens to all of us, and it can cause an annoying disruption in the practice schedule with routine appointments taking much more time than planned. Again, continuing education to review principles of local anesthesia can be enormously helpful. And being able to give painless injections that provide profound anesthesia is one of the best practice builders because that is the number one way that patients judge you as a dentist.
By implementing these few minor changes in your practice, you can save a lot time and be much more productive in your work life.
