Appointment Guidelines

Scheduling Appointments

We are thrilled that you have chosen us to help you achieve a beautiful smile. Together, we can do it as quickly and efficiently as possible.

We have put much effort into designing our scheduling system. Our goal is to allow you to be seen on time for your appointment, do all necessary scheduled treatments, make appointments as stress-free for you as possible, and to minimize interruptions to your busy schedule. We understand that everyone has important obligations throughout the day and that your time is very valuable. Therefore, we would like to offer some suggestions:

1. Know the school schedules. Consider a lunch hour, study hall, or a school holiday that can be used for an appointment.
2. Pick a different class for each appointment. If you have 7 classes per day, you may only have to check out of 3-4 classes a year.
3. Consider car-pooling with other students or friends.

Scheduling Guidelines

We would like to offer “after school” appointments to everyone. However, there are not enough of these later hours to go around.

To Help Treatment Progress Quickly, Please Remember:

• Our “state-of-the-art” treatment allows you to be seen at 6-8 week intervals. Fewer visits mean fewer scheduling problems. Longer appointments are scheduled in the early morning to mid-day when the patient is fresh. The more difficult appointments are much easier if the patient is not tired from a busy day.
• School authorities regard orthodontic appointments as excused absences.
• If an appointment is missed or changed on short notice, a new appointment will need to be rescheduled as soon as possible, within the constraints of our schedule. Missed appointments will prolong treatment.
• Our goal is to provide quality orthodontic care to all of our patients. No-shows, late arrivals, and cancellations not only inconvenience our provider but our other patients as well. Please be aware of our policy regarding missed appointments.

Missed Appointment & Cancellation Policy

Appointment Cancellation

When you book your appointment, you are holding a space on our calendar that is no longer available to other patients. In order to be respectful of other patients, we ask that you give us 24 hours notice so we are able to offer that time to another patient. We respect and value your time, and we ask that you do the same for ours.
We understand that true emergencies do happen, and we can make special considerations for these situations.

How to Cancel Your Appointment

If you need to cancel your appointment, please call or text us at (423) 894-6318, between the hours of 8am to 4pm Eastern time (Monday – Thursday). If necessary, you may leave a detailed voicemail message on our answering machine and we will return your call as soon as possible.

Late Cancellations & No-Shows

A cancellation is considered late when the appointment is canceled less than 24 hours before the appointed time. A no-show is when a patient misses an appointment without canceling. In either case, we will charge the patient a $50 missed appointment fee.

Late Arrival

Because our schedule is carefully booked 6-12 weeks in advance, your late arrival can pose a problem, and we may need to reschedule your appointment when there is adequate time to provide the necessary care. If we have to reschedule an after school/work appointment, it will be rescheduled during school/work hours so that you can be seen without delay.

Rescheduling of Appointments

When an appointment has to be rescheduled for any reason, we ask that you take the next available appointment to prevent treatment delays. Because our appointments are scheduled 6-8 weeks in advance, we reschedule appointments on a first-come-first-serve basis. If you are unable to schedule an appointment that is convenient for you, we suggest you take the first available appointment and request that you be put on a waiting list for any cancellations. If there is an opening in the schedule, we will be happy to call you.