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Have You Really Thought About Your Schedule Lately? by Carolyn Friedman

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Have You Really Thought About Your Schedule Lately?
by Carolyn Friedman

How long has it been since you have really looked at your schedule? We get busy just getting through the day and fail to address the very thing that has a huge impact on us every day. Since it holds such importance, doesn't it warrant a true evaluation each year? Many times throughout the year, we have had changes in procedures and staff members, yet nothing has changed in the way we schedule.

The first step in the evaluation process has to do with the big question: How is it working for you?
  • Are you seeing all patients on time?
  • Do you have a regular and routine lunchtime?
  • Do you finish the day on time?
If you truly see all patients at their scheduled time and finish in the allotted time - great! You are providing a great service to your patients, staff and yourself. For those of you who can't say "yes" to those questions, let's cover what factors need to be addressed.

Facility
Have you considered changing anything in your office layout to increase your efficiency and help the flow of the schedule? For example, many orthodontic offices now have their initial exam in a room that does not have a dental chair. The room is designed more for providing information and taking photos of a new patient. Many times the area you use for an orthodontic consultation is ideal for this appointment. In addition to providing a space more conducive to making a presentation to the patient, it also frees up the area with the dental chair for other procedures. By making this change in my office, we are able to accommodate the new exam in a much more efficient way and the presentation was improved greatly.

Staff
One of the biggest contributing factors affecting our schedule can be staff and their feelings about the schedule. It can be an eye-opener to have an open discussion about each procedure and the timing of these procedures. I find it varies greatly among staff members. I have had assistants tell me that when they worked for one doctor, they had 15 minutes to change an archwire and now they are working with a doctor who requires them to change two archwires in 15 minutes. I would never want to specify what time you should set for a specific procedure, but you need to determine what works for you. While everyone needs to realize that many times a procedure will take the allotted time, you don't want to make the time too short, or quality will suffer. Each procedure needs to be evaluated as to the chairtime, doctor time, staff time and needed supplies.

The next point to address with the staff is how many staff members help to get the practice through the schedule? Does the staff multi-task or does each member stay on one task at a time? Are all the strengths of the staff really being utilized? Determine the strength of each staff member and use each where they are most effective.

When talking about schedules, I often ask if the patients are familiar with how the practice schedules. You need to make sure your patients are informed. When patients are surprised is when they become discontent and complain. When new patients are provided written documentation explaining your hours and how you handle and schedule emergencies, they are then informed patients. The number of drop-in patients for you to handle will be greatly reduced and possibly become non-existent. Then the issue of your schedule being interrupted by drop-in patients will be removed.

Procedures
Have you changed your procedures due to changing an appliance that you use? Maybe you are now working with selfligation brackets, lingual appliances or patients going into braceless treatment. Some of the procedure changes require less time to change an archwire or less chairtime to deliver aligners. Whatever the case, all of this changes your scheduling needs.

Are you still seeing patients in the same time intervals as you have for many years, or have you changed your schedule due to the new innovations, which have changed your scheduling demands? Anytime the intervals change, your schedule should be adjusted.

Have you changed any lab procedures, doing more inhouse lab procedures for instance? If you are having an assistant do the additional lab work, does your patient schedule need to be adjusted for the time lost for that assistant to work in the lab? Are there other procedures that could be done inhouse that would assist you with providing faster service or starting patients with fewer appointments?

Determining which appointments patients will more readily come in for during your hard-to-schedule periods will increase your production and the efficiency of your schedule. All removals should be scheduled in the difficult time slots, as everyone getting their braces off will be more agreeable to accepting appointment times you suggest.

Emergency Appointments
If you have a large number of emergencies, I encourage you to try to determine why. Staff, their training, experience, ability and if they are given the proper amount of time to do the task are essential to a successful schedule. Another factor has to do with patient education. If you do not explain to the patients the important part they play in the success of orthodontic treatment, it will usually mean an increase in emergencies. Remember, with the age group we deal with, non-compliance is a given for some patients. I encourage offices to come up with a "yes-yes" list to go along with your "no-no" list, which helps give them guidelines. No one likes to hear only the negative, try to balance the negative with a positive.

Remember: A schedule can make or break a practice.

* This article was made possible by the support of an education grant from G Care, an educational alliance supported by Dentsply GAC.

Author's Bio
Carolyn Friedman continues to work in the same progressive orthodontic practice that she has worked at for 39 years. Beginning as an orthodontic assistant, and having worked in every area of the orthodontic office, she is currently the office manager and treatment coordinator. She is the founder of OrthoAssist, a business focused on orthodontic consulting and training of orthodontic staff members. She is also the author of the OrthoAssist Library, online interactive programs consisting of training programs for all areas of the practice. Carolyn is a continuing education provider for the Florida Board of Dentistry, conducting educational programs for hygienists on orthodontic appliances, their application and care. Learn more at www.orthoassist.com.
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September 2025
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