10/24/2024
To Our Valued Patients,
We are reaching out to notify you that we are experiencing staffing difficulties in our dental hygiene program. Our new hygienist Jordan has been given an exciting opportunity in a different county and will be leaving the area at the end of November. There is unfortunately a national shortage of dental hygienists and recruitment is especially difficult in our rural area.
Regular dental hygiene and check-ups are critical to oral and overall health. If too much time elapses without stimulation of the dental biofilm, gingival inflammation and periodontal disease can progress.
How will this shortage affect you? We have restructured our hygiene program in our office. As patients, we are asking you to please:
1. Prioritize the importance of your dental hygiene appointments.
- Appointments should only be cancelled due to illness or an emergency, otherwise any appointments that are not cancelled within 48 hours will incur a cancellation fee of $125.
- Rescheduling may take up to 9 months as hygiene appointments are pre-scheduled months in advance.
- Regardless of your appointment attendance, the hygienists are compensated by the practice and last-minute cancellations or failing to show up for your appointment create a burden on the practice and prevent fellow patients that need appointments from receiving them. Multiple failed appointments will lead to dismissal from the practice.
2. Schedule your next dental cleaning the day you have your cleaning to ensure you have a spot on the schedule at the recommended cleaning frequency.
- Do not expect to call in 3-6 months and be able to get an appointment. Patients with a history of periodontal disease are advised to schedule appointments in increments of 2-3 months depending on the severity of your disease. Schedule two appointments before you leave to ensure you have a slot.
3. Arrive early to your scheduled appointment.
- Late arrivals disrupt the entire day’s schedule and other patient appointments which create unnecessary stress upon the entire staff and fellow patients.
- Any late arrivals past 10 minutes will be rescheduled with a cancellation fee. So, plan early for traffic and please come early.
4. Please understand that you may need to see a different provider to have your teeth cleaned. Be kind to your hygienists, they are under a heavy work schedule as they try to ensure patients are seen in a timely manner. They also get sick, have transportation challenges in winter weather, and personal emergencies, leading to cancellations from our office, so to ensure you are seen in a timely manner, you may need to be scheduled with a different provider for an appointment. For patient reference, a national time slot of 20-30 minutes is the acceptable time for a healthy patient/regular dental cleaning. If your cleaning requires more than 20-30 minutes, you may need to return for additional deep cleaning.
5. If you need to see a doctor other than your regular scheduled yearly exam, you will be required to have a second appointment scheduled. Many patients come in scheduled for only a dental cleaning appointment and have a dental problem they want addressed at that time. In the past we have tried to accommodate this but can no longer do so. If you need a crown recemented or have a toothache or concern prior to your dental cleaning, you need to call the office and schedule a separate appointment. Do not expect same day service.
6. Plan to have your teeth cleaned by the doctor if you require restorative care or are past due for exam and x-rays. A doctor works with an assistant and can move more efficiently to clean the teeth, so expect any cleanings to be shorter in duration, as they work faster together and can complete a dental cleaning more efficiently as a team. While we all enjoy conversing with our patients, our hygiene practice model is having to change to a more efficient model to ensure that we can provide these essential services in a timely manner to all of our patients.
7. Please practice high quality homecare. Brush in the am upon rising before breakfast, and in pm right before bed. Floss your teeth daily, best time is at night!
We greatly appreciate your understanding and cooperation during this difficult time. Dental hygiene is the heart of a dental practice, and we hope that we can recruit some motivated new team members in the near future.
Gratefully,
The Alexandroff Dental Team
