Exploring How Time Might Cost You Money in Dentistry
- Anita
- Jul 6
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 18
As a dental professional, you are trying to do the best for your patients within the limited allocated time. It can be a long day. Today, I want to explore what time means for dental professionals and for your patients.
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As a dental professional, you see your patients with specific tasks and time attached to their names:
9 am exam... 30 minutes
9:30 am extraction... 30 minutes
10 am crown prep... 1 hour
11 am UR6 pain... 30 minutes
There is already a deadline set within each patient appointment. You must extract that tooth within 30 minutes, or you feel like you’ve failed. So, you roll up your sleeves and get to work. But what happens if you run out of time?
Imagine being an office worker running out of time while writing a report. It would be easier for them to close the computer than for a dentist to put down their forceps and say to the patient, "That's it for today! We are out of time! Come back tomorrow. We'll wiggle that tooth some more."
As a dental professional, of course, you wouldn't do that! Sometimes you lose time, and sometimes you gain it. That's all good, but what about if you are a dental hygienist?
The Role of Time in Dental Hygiene
Dental hygienists work differently depending on where you are in the world. If you are a dental hygienist in the USA or Canada, you perform pre-examinations for the dentist and provide professional cleaning. This means you often have adequate time booked per patient.
In the UK, dental hygienists typically have a standard 30-minute appointments. Some hygienists are lucky enough to have variety of appointments, but today I want to focus on the standard 30-minute appointments for patients in the UK.
Whether you like it or not, your patients are watching the time.
When patients see a dentist for an extraction or filling, they usually want the appointment to be as short as possible. However, if a patient is booked for a dental hygiene appointment, they are often aware of the length of their appointment. We even call it H30 (hygiene 30 minutes). Therefore, they expect 30 minutes. But is it really just 30 minutes?
Understanding Appointment Timing
Patients often think their appointment starts the moment we call them in. As we all know, this is not correct. We must check many details before calling them in, and we need to prepare the surgery for the patient. This preparation takes time, and many patients do not appreciate this.
The time for checking medical history or treatment history and preparing the room should take between 2 to 4 minutes, plus the time for professional mechanical plaque and calculus removal (PMPR).
Let’s break it down:
For your first patient, you spend 2 minutes on preparation plus 25 minutes for PMPR. This totals 27 minutes.
For your next patient, you spend 24 minutes on PMPR plus 4 minutes for preparation. This totals 28 minutes.
For your third patient, you spend 25 minutes on PMPR plus 5 minutes for preparation due to a complicated medical history. This totals 30 minutes. However, this patient has been going through a tough time and needs extra reassurance, costing you an additional 5 minutes. Now you’ve spent 35 minutes.
Your next patient is waiting. After 7 minutes of their scheduled appointment time, they walk to the receptionist and threaten to leave because they have other commitments. If they decide to leave, your dental clinic will lose the income from that appointment.
The Cost of Time
Time is money. How can you ensure your next patient doesn’t leave if you are running late? Should you rush through your third patient, ignoring her worries and anxiety? Of course, not! We are all human and need that human touch from time to time.
If I am running late, I will quickly run (or send my assistant) to my next patient to explain that it won’t be long. It will take a couple of minutes to prepare and clean the room for them. Most people will understand and appreciate the explanation.
If the patient has waited a short time, I always thank them for their patience. Avoid apologizing.
NOT ALL PATIENTS ARE SAME
Often, dental practices have standard dental hygiene appointments times (for ease of scheduling) and book back-to-back. However, not all patients are the same, so why do we have standard appointment times?
Let's say the patient has been with the dental practice for a long time, but they are seeing you for a dental hygiene appointment for the first time.
The patient obviously trusts the dentist/practice - they made a decision to stay with them a long time because they are happy and trust them.
On the other hand, they are seeing you for the first time! There's this thing - trust again. You have to build their trust in you. With the standard appointment time, unless it is a straight forward patient, you may not have enough time to build this trust. We often have to explain why we are doing things the way we are doing it. Plus, with new patients we often have more calculus build-up and more severe disease that we have to address, than with our regular patients.
I suggest that new patients have a longer appointment time if they not seen you before. The patient may have seen other colleagues at your practice, but the patient is creating individual relationships and trusts with each and every one of you.
If it not possible to extend the appointment times, have lots of leaflets / flyers ready to had in for patients explaining about decay or gum disease. At one point, I found a reputable youtube video I used to play to the patients explaining gum disease while I was doing part of my clinical notes.
The Importance of Communication
What if you have an amazing patient who has taken your professional advice and maintains an excellent oral hygiene regime at home?
I would still spend time chatting, doing a full mouth PMPR and polish, and giving extra advice regarding dental hygiene products. Instead of moving this patient from H30 to H20 with less time, I would rather extend their recall. It is easier to shorten the recall time in the future than to extend the treatment time.
Tips for Staying on Schedule
Although sometimes it is unavoidable to run late, it is essential to try to stick to your time schedule. How do you efficiently stay on time? Here are some tips:
Arrive at work with sufficient time before your first patient.
Ensure you have appropriate dental practice support.
Have a reliable dental nurse or assistant.
Ensure proper dental decontamination support.
Use sharp instruments.
Implement practice policies regarding patients' medical histories.
Have clear practice policies regarding clinic treatments.
Define clear staff roles.
Allocate different appointment times for patients with new or anxious patients having more time for dental hygiene appointments.
If you and your dental team run on time, everyone will get their essential rest time for lunch and breaks. This is the secret to happy, pain-free dental professionals!
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