We are a few weeks into 2021 and while there is still plenty of uncertainty in the world, it is starting to feel like we are moving back towards normal. But what will normal even mean anymore? Dentists all over the country, really the world, are having to pivot to new ways of treating people’s teeth. While many dentists are still struggling, a few have made business transitions and are leveraging that uncertainty into change.

When the pandemic shut down our office, we took a step back to reevaluate our strategy and schedule. After much discussion internally and with other doctors I knew, we decided to make a huge change in who and when we see patients. One thing is for certain, our dental office’s flow and schedule looks much different than before. It’s probably fairly abnormal but we are LOVING the change!

We can go ahead and blame or credit the pandemic but we used the new restrictions and precautions, to totally change our schedule. Two days a week we only see recall/hygiene patients and the other two days we see only restorative patients. We are doing this to keep aerosols (highspeed handpiece use) to a minimum. Using them only on specific days when we only have 1-2 patients in the office.

This change helps keeps our staff and patients safe. Our patients like how quickly and safely they can be seen. My team likes it because we feel safer and we do not have to use as much PPE. We can focus and concentrate on the specific procedures.

Our goal is to increase efficiency with this new system. We’ve added more hygiene time and this way, we can continue to keep patients and staff safe. Financially this new patient flow looks to be sustainable. Change is always difficult, but when it is “forced” on you, you find out what you are missing!