Broken Appointments


My secretary will call you and remind you of the appointment you made the day before the appointment. You only have to remember it for 24 hours.

Physicians routinely expect their patients to wait for upwards of three hours in their waiting rooms. That is why they are such very large rooms. But dental office waiting rooms are not large at all. This is because Dentists work in the same way that surgeons do...in an operatory. We "operate" on nearly every person we see. And so we reserve an "operatory" for you. There is not a line a dozen patients long waiting (and hoping) for you to not show up so they can get in early. If you don't keep your appointment I AM FORCED TO SIT AND DO NOTHING. This is one of the reasons that for Dentists, "Integrity" is so important. Every day we literally have to pay for the lack of it in the public at large. We watch the money as it comes directly out of our pockets daily. The lack of integrity in other people costs us a fortune....literally. That is one of the reasons you will find that we generally value it very high ourselves, and especially in our patients. Integrity remains as close to our daily life as our appointment books.

If you don't keep the appointment you made only the day before, expect to have to pay $10.00. On the other hand, a sincere apology will go a long way. It will likely get the $10.00 applied as a credit to your next procedure. Dentist are people too. And are incredibly subject to compliments. We seldom get them, and when we do we have trouble believing we deserve them. (A scar left from our dental school days).

I don't force you to make a single appointment. You do that on your own. I only ask you to remember an appointment for 24 hours. if I break an appointment with you, you may charge me $10.00. I will pay it.

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