Why do dentist appointments often get delayed?
This is a question that has been asked of me several times, and that’s why I wanted to address it in this article. There is obviously no single answer to this question, as there are many reasons that can lead to a delay.
Of course, this is an uncomfortable issue that generates dissatisfaction among patients, but also among dentists who, many times, cannot prevent these delays, in favor of the patient they are attending to and treating.
As this is a controversial topic that always raises many doubts, I hope to clarify the reasons that might be behind a delay in a dentist appointment.
Reasons That Can Explain a Delay in a Dentist Appointment
Surely you’ve been to an appointment and had to spend some minutes or even hours in the waiting room. This happens in various types of healthcare establishments, both public and private, such as hospitals, medical offices, or clinics.
Naturally, there are establishments or specialties where delays seem to happen more often due to a higher degree of unpredictability. For example, the waiting time in an emergency department always depends on the patient volume and the severity of the cases presenting for observation.
In short, delays in medical appointments are often related to the unforeseen events that can arise and, furthermore, with the sensitivity that an area like healthcare requires. A patient’s care cannot be rushed, as it may put their well-being or even life at risk!
Although dental appointments are generally not those with the most delays, they can still happen, and there are many circumstances that can help explain the failure to meet the scheduled time.
The Focus on the Patient
Whenever I receive a patient in the office, my focus shifts entirely to them, and I am unable to worry about the time or the clock while I am treating them.
Although this attitude may lead to some delays, I am sure that those waiting in the waiting room also expect this from me: a total commitment to the person I am consulting.
Unforeseen Events
We’ve already touched on the point of unforeseen events, which are so common in healthcare, and dental care is no exception. All treatments are scheduled in terms of the expected duration, meaning we have an estimate of the time it takes to carry out each medical procedure/treatment.
To help you understand better what I mean, the extraction of a wisdom tooth typically takes two hours. However, if a fracture occurs, for example, it will delay the procedure and, consequently, any other scheduled appointments afterward.
Of course, the opposite can also happen, meaning a treatment can finish, for example, 30 minutes earlier than expected, allowing the early attendance of patients who are already in the clinic, even if it’s not yet their scheduled time.
Hygiene
When addressing this topic, it is still essential to remember that, between appointments, the medical office needs to undergo a rigorous hygiene procedure to ensure the safety and quality of the service provided to the patient.
Although the time spent on this procedure is planned and calculated, the reality is that, like all other procedures, this one can also be delayed due to an unforeseen event that might occur.
Personal Delays
There are also cases where delays in appointments are simply due to a personal delay of the dentist. Many of us have probably experienced unforeseen events that forced us to miss professional commitments we had scheduled.
An illness, an accident, or the illness of someone who depends on us are just examples of situations that can lead to a delay in a dentist appointment.
And when it’s the patients who arrive late…
It may seem contradictory or paradoxical, but delays in appointments with the dentist can also be the responsibility of the patients themselves. Confused? Let me explain.
What should be done when a patient arrives late? This is another controversial issue, as some believe that these delays should not be tolerated, while others think there should be leniency for small delays.
The truth is that when a patient arrives late and we start attending to them later than the scheduled time, we risk this interfering with the start time of the next appointment, and as such, it can lead to a delay.
How to manage delays and work to avoid them
Given this reality, the commitment of Clínica Zenha is to create strategies to better manage the situation of delays, minimizing them as much as possible.
To achieve this, we have a backoffice and frontoffice team that carefully manages the schedules, informing patients of delays we can anticipate. For example, if there is a significant delay in one appointment, it is expected that all appointments for that day will be delayed. If patients are informed in advance, they do not have to wait in the waiting room.
Moreover, we are continuously calibrating the average time for consultations and various medical procedures so that the estimated times are increasingly closer to reality.
At this point, I do not anticipate that a consultation will take less than an hour. However, I can extend this estimate if I find that, in general, one hour is clearly too little.
In summary, delays in dental consultations can have multiple causes, but it is certain that they are always an unpleasant circumstance and, therefore, at Clínica Zenha, we strive to compensate as much as possible, with a comfortable waiting room where the patient feels well received and respected.
Among the various missions of Clínica Zenha is, without a doubt, the reduction of waiting times, but without compromising the quality of the service provided!
