A dentist appointment is inconvenient enough without wasting a trip there when the appointment has been canceled. Here's when you should suspect something happened to your appointment …
I'm a dental cripple due to poor brushing and flossing habits in my twenties and early thirties. Now, I make sure I take care of my dental work and what's left of my natural teeth.
Part of this regimen is daily brushing and flossing. The other part is regular trips to the dentist. (My last appointment was a good one: no cavities! Yay!)
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Just like everything worthwhile, getting out to the dentist takes time. This post talks about not spending any more time than you have to,
The dentist appointment that never was
In January of this year, I had an appointment to have a crown put in. One of my crowns had cracked and the replacement was finally in.
Or so I thought
I had my appointment card, had arranged for leave from work, and headed out there. I arrived a few minutes early.
Normally, the receptionist sees me and gets me checked in. This time was different.
Receptionist: “How can I help you?”
Me: “I'm here for my appointment.”
Receptionist: “Um, we don't have you coming in until March.”
Me (tossing my appointment card on the desk): “Um, surprise?!”
So they began to track down why my appointment, which had been scheduled at one point, had disappeared from their system.
They found that they had canceled my appointment when the crown arrived and they found that it had some issues. (The replacement crown wouldn't have arrived in time for my scheduled appointment.) They returned the crown, and fully intended on contacting me about it, but for some reason never did. (I checked my phone for texts from them; there were none. No phone messages with me or my wife, either. More on this below.)
Basically, it was a processing error at the dentist's office that caused the mix-up. They seemed to figure out what happened, and I got a post out of it, haha.
The dentist appointment shuffle
A dental practice is a business. Often it's the policy of a dentist to require 48 hours notice for canceling an appointment; not doing so can result in a fee.
So, as someone able to adult occasionally, I kept track of my appointment on my end, and arrived at the right time. Because responsibility.
Remember when I mentioned above that the dentist's office hadn't called about the cancellation? Well, they also hadn't called me to remind me of the appointment. It was a little unusual, but it was also around the end of the year, so things may have been hectic in the office.
And in any case, they're not required to remind me of my appointment. It's just a courtesy.
The fact that they didn't remind me of my appointment should have been a flag. It was unlike them not to remind me. My wife and I had recognized that we hadn't gotten a call or a text. I should have verified before taking a half-day of leave and driving 45 minutes one way for no reason.
How to avoid wasted dental trips
Oh well, things like this happen once in a while. Nonetheless, here are some ways we're reducing the chances of this happening again:
- We keep track of our appointments ourselves. We're ultimately the ones responsible for keeping the appointment (and we want to, of course).
- We expect a call from the dentist reminding us. Not because they are required to, but because it could signal a problem if they don't. Like, perhaps, they canceled the appointment and didn't tell us.
- If we don't get a reminder from them, we call them to confirm. There's really no downside to calling them to confirm. Either
things go as planned, or you find out that things have changed. - We confirm the purpose of the visit and that things are in hand to do the work. This last time I asked the
office , “The crown is in hand, correct?” Again, there's really no downside to confirming that everything is in place to do the procedure. If it's not, the dentist office might feel bad, but it's still me that took the trip out there and took time off of work.
Have you had any similar experiences? What do you do to make your appointments run more smoothly?
