As both a dental professional and an entrepreneur, you have a vested interest in your dental practice’s growth. But, it isn’t easy to grow your practice if your current patients are slipping through the cracks. Subsequently, it’s important to prioritize dental recall appointments to maintain your current patient pool.
Dental Practice Enhancement is here to help you grow your practice while also helping you maintain your current patient load. With remote and comprehensive training services, we can equip your team with the tools they need for hygiene recall success. Curious about how we can help? Give our team a call at (833) DPE-FOR-U or send us a message online to learn more.
Meanwhile, let’s explore ways that you can improve your dental recall success for long-term practice success. In this post, we give you four, easy ways you and your team can prioritize hygiene recall appointments in your office.
1. Schedule Appointments Before Patients Leave Your Office
After a cleaning, we usually tell our patients that we will see them again in six months. However, many patients are hesitant to schedule appointments six months out.
To counteract this hesitation, instruct your administrative team to ensure patients that they will not be penalized for changing or canceling appointments 24 hours in advance. This allows patients to feel more comfortable scheduling appointments, even several months out.
Furthermore, adding patients to your schedule allows your administrative team to send reminders to patients. As a result, patients are more inclined to reschedule dental cleanings rather than canceling them altogether.
2. Determine Each Patient’s Preferred Form of Communication
As a working professional, you know how difficult it can be to take phone calls during the day. Your patients are no different.
Therefore, when gathering patient intake information, inquire about each patient’s preferred contact method. Whether it is through text, email, or voice calls, your patients deserve to correspond with you in a way that suits their needs. So, create a contact system that benefits you, your team, and your patients.
Here’s a tip: Research concludes that written correspondence (i.e. texts and emails) is the best way to communicate with your patients for improved patient retention and hygiene recall.
3. Emphasize the Value of Hygiene Recall Appointments
Reminding your patients that an ounce of prevention is worth a metric ton of the cure is important. Your patients need to know that neglecting hygiene appointments could result in painful, embarrassing, or expensive issues in the not-so-distant future.
Therefore, avoid statements like, “Everything looks good!” Instead, try saying, “Let’s keep your smile looking this great by scheduling another cleaning in six months.” This demonstrates the value of dental cleanings without giving patients the impression that they can skip their next appointment.
4. Automate or Outsource Your Dental Recall Efforts
Typically, your front desk team is busy with in-office patients. As a result, dental recall appointments may slip their minds and reduce the number of recurring patients in your chair.
Outsourcing or automating your dental recall efforts takes stress off of your administrative team while also maintaining your current patient pool. Not only that, but it serves as an easy reminder to patients of their upcoming dental appointments, which increases patient compliance and success.
Administrative Training Services for Improved Dental Recall
Dental Practice Enhancement specializes in administrative training services that emphasize hygiene recall to help you and your team maintain and grow your practice. If you’re ready to see how we can help you improve and streamline your practice, then call us at (833) DPE-FOR-U or send us a message online to get started.
