Your next appointment is WHEN?
Since the office reopened in June 2020, we have been playing catch up with appointment rescheduling. As of February 2022, we have a waitlist for an appointment of about four months. We have been very transparent with all our prospective patients that although the next open spot is four months away, we can usually accommodate an earlier appointment should cancellations occur from now till then. All of our appointments are prescheduled by patients before they leave the office, so at least half of the appointment times are spoken for months ahead. Cancellations only come up when we start to confirm these prebooked appointments one week before the appointments. For those who attempt to cancel, we do advise them that it may take months to reschedule, and that if their other obligations can be more easily rescheduled, we would prefer that they keep their appointments with us.
Why are we so busy? For one, we have fewer appointments available due to staggering patient arrivals to maximize distancing and minimizing wait time. The staggering of arrivals also allows the dental examination to occur either before aerosols are generated or after they have had enough time to settle. The exact timing can be tricky to nail down if unexpected emergencies arise during a seemingly perfectly scheduled day. Second, the longer people have delayed their appointments, some since well before the pandemic began, the longer their appointments need to be in order for us to play catch up. Also, we now need extra time for cleaning the operatories and for changing our PPE from head to toe between patients. Third, with the rise and fall of the different variants, people tend to cancel in droves and also try to reschedule in droves when there is a comfortable lull in the pandemic. In order to preserve our own existence, we have to stand by our first come, first served policy in order to allow equal opportunity for anyone who is willing to come see us, be it someone new, existing or requiring emergency treatment. It doesn’t mean we are abandoning our existing patients when we can’t book them the moment they feel comfortable enough to return; it just means we have learned to survive while we wait from them to return.
What can you do in the meantime? Brush and floss! Sounds simple enough, but it turns out virtual schooling and working from home have really affected people’s sense of hygiene, be it oral hygiene or otherwise. With the constant proximity to snacks, the justification to stay home for days at a time, the lack of opportunity for socialization, and the mental stress that is taken out on those poor teeth, we have seen drastic dental deterioration from the poor habits developed over the last two years.
As a friend of mine has coined it, 2022 is the year of the Great Reset. As people settle into the rhythm of a new normal, the scheduling conundrums should work themselves out slowly. We are probably still about half a year into clearing out the backlog, but as long as we all continue to be patient and understanding, we’ll get through it. Do be kind to yourselves, but more importantly, be kind to your teeth!
