Tips To Save Time At The Dentist
Maintaining dental health means making time for regular appointments. This can be difficult if you need to take time off from work to fit in your dental appointments. The following tips can help you save time at the appointment, so you don't have to use up all your paid time off to take care of your dental needs.
Skip the Monday appointment
Monday isn't the best day to schedule an appointment. Many dentists, particularly those in busy offices, become overbooked on Monday. This is because they need to fit in patients that have a dental emergency over the weekend. Squeezing in just one extra emergency appointment can make your dentist run behind all day, which means you'll be sitting in the waiting room longer. Instead, book your appointment for Tuesday through Friday. Saturday appointments are a possibility, but keep in mind these are often booked by parents trying to avoid missed school for their children.
Schedule early in the day
Each appointment that runs late early in the day makes the wait longer from appointments later in the day. Although a well-run office will add some time into each appointment to allow for this, the fact is that a late day appointment is more likely to run late than one early in the day. For the most time savings, request the first appointment of the day. You likely won't have to wait at all to get in. If you can't get the first appointment of the day, then at least show up to your appointment 15 minutes early. Sometimes, you can get in early if the scheduled appointment before you ended early.
Prepare paperwork beforehand
Call the receptionist a week before your appointment and ask if there is any necessary paperwork you will need to fill out. There may be new paperwork, even if you are an existing patient at the office. For example, you may need to fill out updated contact forms, insurance information, or privacy policies.
Many offices will email or mail this paperwork to you so that you can fill it out in advance. You can drop it off prior to your appointment, thus ensuring it is all entered into the system. This can save a lot of time since some offices won't call you back for your appointment until the receptionist has time to update this information in the computer system.
For more help, contact your dentist office. For more information, check out a website like http://www.brooksidedentalgroup.com.
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