Life is busy. Between family commitments and work responsibilities schedules fill up quickly. While we advise to arrive with plenty of time to your dentist appointments, sometimes running late is unavoidable. Avoid chronically running late if possible, but what should you do if you are running late for a dental appointment?
Notify the Office
It is important to give the front desk a heads up that you won’t be on time for your upcoming appointment. Let them know approximately when you would be able to show up for your appointment.
You’ll want to ask reception to see if you should keep your appointment or possibly reschedule. Just be honest with your dental office, don’t feel the need to come up with a good story as to why you are running late to your appointment. Honesty is typically the best policy!
Be Understanding
The office may ask you to reschedule your appointment. It may depend on what type of appointment you were scheduled for, whether it was a cleaning or a filling may change their answer.
Although this may push back your dental procedure or cleaning, it is important to understand that to keep things fair to other patients the office cannot hold your appointment. Otherwise, the entire schedule of other patients will have to be pushed back.
Schedule Appointments In Advance
Make sure you schedule any upcoming dentist appointments with plenty of time to adjust your calendar to allow for plenty of time to show up for your appointment.
Habitually running late may result in a reluctance to schedule future appointments if you are unable to keep them.
Arrive On Time
Finally, try your best to arrive either on time or a few minutes early.
Staying on time for your dental appointments is a win, win situation for both patient and dentist. We get to keep serving you as a patient and you won’t fall behind in keeping up with your dental health needs.
