COVID-19 Dental Recall Trends

As the world recovers from COVID-19 and its impact on every person, new trends have emerged in dental recall. Primarily, that dental practices are booked for all hygiene appointments for months. This trend has lead offices to a sense of security regarding their schedules, leading them to put off their efforts in recall and scheduling cancelled treatment.

However, we have seen an increase of hygiene and treatment appointments canceling last minute, causing gaps in office schedules.

In many cases, these treatments have been cancelled out of no fault of the practice. Patients are concerned about their financial futures, have lost insurance, or are concerned about contracting or transmitting illness leading them to cancel at the last possible minute.

Since your office is so busy, these cancelled appointments can go unnoticed until it is too late to fill.

It is more important than ever to have a dedicated person who is responsible for filling the immediate gaps in your schedule. If you do not have a dedicated staff member who fills gaps in your recall schedule, then get one today. It is the most important decision you can make in the recovery of your practice.

As you work on recall efforts, please review these tips to help adapt your recall scheduling to be sympathetic to all of the feelings of your patients.

• Clearly explain your updated practices. Your patients shouldn’t fear coming in for recall appointments.
• Ask if your patients can fill a specific gap in your schedule. If they say no, then it leaves the door open for another time.
• Be consistent, it takes on average 9 contacts for a person to set a recall appointment.

Being proactive about your hygiene gaps will do more for your practice’s recovery than just about anything that your office can do at this time. To learn more about how Reach can help you with your recall, please request a demo of our services.

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