Would you be afraid of a dentist who could give you a next day appointment? (side, root canal)

[rodomonte]

This is in a 50,000 pop town. In big cities I have had to wait 3 months. This scares me that he doesn't have more patients.

[AnonChick]

Well that would depend on a whole lot of things. Here's just a few:

1. Is he in private practice or a group?
2. Did his appointment for tomorrow cancel and the opening just occurred?
3. Is it a dental emergency? (swelling/puss/pain/headache is typically considered a dental emergency, and the fact that he makes you wait a day means he just can't take you today, which is what he would normally do)
4. Is he cash only?
5. Is this a dental clinic, or an actual dental office?
6. Did he have a lunch date with his wife, that he had to break because his wife has to get her nails done? If so, he now has an extra hour that he didn't schedule previously.
7. Does he eat green eggs and ham?

Okay #7 is a trick question. But you get the idea.

[rodomonte]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

Well that would depend on a whole lot of things. Here's just a few:

1. Is he in private practice or a group?
2. Did his appointment for tomorrow cancel and the opening just occurred?
3. Is it a dental emergency? (swelling/puss/pain/headache is typically considered a dental emergency, and the fact that he makes you wait a day means he just can't take you today, which is what he would normally do)
4. Is he cash only?
5. Is this a dental clinic, or an actual dental office?
6. Did he have a lunch date with his wife, that he had to break because his wife has to get her nails done? If so, he now has an extra hour that he didn't schedule previously.
7. Does he eat green eggs and ham?

Okay #7 is a trick question. But you get the idea.

1. Private practice
2. I cancelled my appointment today at 11:30 and his office said how about tomorrow at noon. My appointment today was booked yesterday.
3. It is an emergency. Don't they charge more for emergencies?
4. I can give him a check for about $1680 for a root canal.
5. Private office.
6, Has a male office manager - may be gay.
7. No - LOL

When I cancelled today, they wanted to know if I could come in later today - again where are the patients?

I have a bad feeling about this dentist. Can't get any references on any dentists in this small town.

[43north87west]

I would not be afraid at all.

In the big city corporate owned clinics that accept all of the HMOs, there are going to be very few openings on a one day notice because HMO patients don't have a lot of options, so HMO patients flood the offices that accept their insurance. But in fee for service offices, or offices that accept only some insurance carriers, there are going to be empty chairs from time to time.

Also, there is always the possibility of a cancellation or a missed appointment. Or they might just double book on the chance of a cancellation, especially around lunch. Dentists usually get paid on production, and if the dentist owns the practice, then they have a lot of motivation to treat a new patient quickly.

[AnonChick]

It's because it's an emergency. He's fitting you in between existing appointments. It's a common thing with doctors (and dentists) in private practices and I wouldn't worry about it at all.

My grandfather was my dentist growing up. We would visit every Saturday at his office, and he'd close shop at 1 to take us to lunch. So we'd often sit in the waiting room and watch his patients come and go, and listen to the receptionist/hygeinist (there was only one, she did both jobs) schedule appointments on the phone. If it was an emergency, she'd tell the patient to come in after 2PM the same day. And Papa would sometimes get walk-ins where the patient had golfball-sized swelling on their cheek. The receptionist would usher the emergency patient to the "third office" which was kept free for emergencies and my grandfather would check in on that patient while the one he was working on, was spitting (they had spitoons then, not those fancy suction things).