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:
- Know the school schedules. Consider a lunch hour, study hall, or a school holiday that can be used for an appointment.
- 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.
- 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 be on time for every patient; therefore, late arrivals can pose a problem. In fairness to other patients, we may need to reschedule or alter the amount of work planned for that appointment.
Cancellations and No-Shows
During orthodontic treatment, you mustn’t miss a scheduled appointment. Orthodontic forces must be monitored regularly to ensure the highest quality of orthodontic care that we can provide. We do, however, realize that some circumstances cannot be avoided and you will occasionally need to reschedule.
If you miss your regularly scheduled visit, please notify our office within 24 hours of your scheduled appointment. This will allow us to offer your appointment time to other patients. Because our most popular appointments are booked 8 weeks in advance, you may be asked to reschedule during school/working hours. For this reason, we encourage you to make every effort to keep your scheduled visit.
Late Arrivals
To avoid missed appointments and late arrivals, we have installed an automated calling system to remind you of your appointment date, time, and location. To ensure that you receive a reminder call, please notify us of any changes to your phone number.
Should you arrive late for an appointment, we will attempt to treat you; however, we may not be able to complete all of the scheduled procedures. In most cases, you can be worked into an opening, assuming that all patients have been seen as scheduled. We will make every effort to work you in, but you may be required, in some instances, to reschedule your appointment.
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.
