A great way to grow your dental practice is to schedule appointments appropriately. Effective scheduling can accommodate new patients and ensure that returning patients come back to your practice regularly. However, short-notice cancellations, long wait times, or double bookings can occur due to bad scheduling practices.

Below are common appointment scheduling mistakes your dental office could be making and how to avoid them.

Not Having Fixed Working Hours

Dental practices strive to provide their patients with the best dental care. An inefficient use of time and energy is one of the most common mistakes made by dentists. Schedule patient appointments for important procedures when you feel the most productive, such as early morning or afternoon.

It's important to communicate your working schedule with your staff. For the dental practice to succeed, you should work the hours convenient for you and not your patients. 

Not Scheduling Enough Patients

Avoid giving patients control over your schedule. If your dental practice does not see enough patients during normal business hours, you most likely have a scheduling problem. Being open for more hours could backfire by increasing labor costs and decreasing overall productivity.

Over time, the dental practice may struggle to fill weekends or evenings. Instead of working more hours, try pinpointing why the staff cannot fill the schedule during regular hours. 

Not Training Staff to Prevent Cancellations 

No-shows and cancellations can be frustrating and disruptive to your dental practice. Staff should try to convince patients to visit your practice if they call to cancel. Also, ask the patient for a reason for cancellation.

Depending on the answer, your staff should have the training to explain the treatment procedures, costs, and benefits to their oral health.

Not Providing Staff with Call Scripts

When your staff member picks up the phone, they may not know what to expect. Potential new patients might be calling to make an appointment, or a current patient may need to reschedule. It's essential for staff members to have access to well-thought-out scripts so they can handle any situation.

Scripts can help maintain a consistent message or voice for your dental practice. The scheduling process will become easier if your staff can refer to specific materials. 

Not Following Up on Missed Appointments

When a patient misses their appointment, your staff should contact them to follow up. Instead of accusing them of not showing up, give them the option of rescheduling. Practices with dental appointment scheduling software can offer easy and convenient rescheduling.

Offering pressure-free rescheduling allows patients to select the date and time that is most convenient for them. An easy-to-reschedule system can help reduce the number of short-notice cancellations and no-shows.

Not Leaving Slots Open for New Patients 

No-shows are more likely to occur if patients schedule appointment times too far in advance. Whenever possible, try to accommodate new patients within three days. Many dental practices end up losing new patients by overbooking. 

Not Sending Reminders

Dental practices should send patients reminders before their appointments. A day before the appointment, you can give the patient a call. Ensure these calls do not provide the option of canceling an appointment.

The purpose of these calls should be to express your excitement about seeing patients on a particular day and time. If the patient says they cannot make the appointment, you have enough time to find another patient to fill the slot. 

You can also use Dental Intelligence appointment reminders to automate the process and allow patients to confirm their appointments.

Not Having a Call Wait List

Sometimes gaps appear in the schedule due to unforeseen circumstances. For such situations, your dental practice should maintain a short-notice waitlist. Upon cancellation, you can call the first patient on the waitlist to schedule an appointment.

Alternatively, you can check the day's schedule to determine whether any patients are past due. If they agree to earlier treatment, consider moving them to the open spot.

Advanced Dental Scheduling Solutions for Dental Practices

Many dental offices still provide appointments over the telephone or by walk-in. Scheduling appointments is an ongoing challenge, and unfilled appointments can quickly result in lost revenues. At Dental Intelligence, we can assist you with the process; read our dental scheduling tips to learn more.

Contact us at Dental Intelligence today to try a modern dental appointment scheduling system and more.