How to Get Patients to Keep Dental Appointments

One of the biggest frustrations of dental practices is when patients don’t show up for their appointments. With all the different obligations and responsibilities, most people don’t really consider dental appointments as one of their priorities.

Every person in this world is strapped for time, and your patients are not an exception. In this modern, fast-paced life, the dental care of your patients is usually pushed to the backseat. Family responsibilities, work deadlines, and social commitments might seem more important in the lives of your patients than going to their routine appointment with the dentist. More often than not, patients cancel their dental appointments completely.

Unfortunately, this can have negative effects not only on their health but also on your practice. If most of your patients are canceling because of their busy schedules, there are some great tips on how to get patients to keep dental appointments.

Know the Specific Needs of Your Dental Patient

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To make sure that all of your patients will stick with their dental appointments, you should always ensure that you inform them of how important your services are, why they must visit you regularly, and that more than anyone else, you understand their dental care needs. Doing so will make them see that your dental office offers services that will help patients maintain their dental hygiene.

Reduce Your Patient’s Waiting Time

Among the key reasons why many patients feel unsatisfied is that they need to wait at the dental office. If you fail to address this, those long waiting hours may make you lose even your most loyal patients. It is important to remember that the time of your patients is as equally precious as your time, and you need to commit to them in the same way that they gave their commitment to you.

The general rule of thumb here is that the acceptable wait time is 10 to 15 minutes. Anything that goes more than 20 minutes will only make your patients start to feel restless. This increases the chances of you having to deal with upset and angry patients who might no longer have any interest in going back to your dental office ever again.

Send Out Appointment Reminders

Among the most effective and efficient strategies to help your patients to keep their appointments is to remind them about their upcoming schedules for visiting your office. Just counting on your busy patients to recall their dental appointments may only lead to plenty of missed and forgotten visits. Even your most organized patient will surely appreciate a simple call or a quick text that reminds them of their next dental appointment.

Missed appointments can be very detrimental to a dental practice, and the patients may suffer if they don’t get the oral care they need and deserve. If your dental practice has been seeing a lot of cancellations due to dental patients who are too busy, the tips above will help you boost your show-up rates and strengthen your relationship with your patients at the same time.

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