Office Policies

It is our policy to follow our mission statement in regards to patient care. Patients of record are scheduled first for appointments and emergency care, followed by new patients seeking a dental practice for themselves or their family.

Dr. House provides diagnostic and treatment recommendations based on patient needs regardless of whether one has a dental care plan or not. He believes that it is his responsibility to inform patients of their dental needs and treatment options and provide the care each patient chooses or refer to appropriate specialists.

Appointments

Except in the case of emergencies, appointments are required for all treatment. Walk-in patients will be seen as time allows, not necessarily on a first-come first-served basis, and shall not infringe on care for patients with scheduled appointments. Every effort is made by the dental staff to see patients in a timely manner and inform patients if there is a need to change or adjust their appointment time.

Emergencies

If you have what you believe to be a dental emergency, please contact us as soon as possible, preferably by telephone, so that we may properly assign an appointment time to handle your problem. Please be aware that we may have several emergencies at the same time. If we are unable to see you immediately, it is because proper triage and scheduling prevents it. If we are unable to see you in a timely manner, we reserve the right to refer you to a colleague, specialist, or emergency medical center.

Reminder Calls

Because we know you are busy and our patients keep their commitments, we do not disturb you with reminder calls. If you have a problem remembering your commitments and you would like a confirmation call, please ask my staff to do so each time you make an appointment. We will make a notation and a member of my staff will attempt to contact you once, one business day prior to your appointment at a telephone number you designate. Please be sure to give us a number where you can be reached or that has an answering machine or voice mail so that we may leave a message if you are not present. If the line is busy or otherwise unavailable, we regret that there is not enough staff to repetitively attempt to contact you. For this reason, do not rely on a reminder call from the office staff. Please make additional arrangements to remember your appointment.

Broken Appointments

We do not over-book our schedule, meaning your appointment time is reserved especially for you. If you do not come, not only is your own care delayed, but no one else is able to be treated during that time. When appointments are not kept, dental costs increase for everyone and emergency patients that could have been treated must needlessly wait. There is no charge for the first missed appointment without 24 hours notice. To discourage repetitive broken appointments, there is a token charge for the second occurrence, and a full broken appointment charge for the third and each subsequent occurrence. The charges are dependent on how much time was reserved for the procedure. If you absolutely must reschedule, please give at least 24 hours notice (before 9 am Friday for Monday appointments) to avoid charges.

We realize there is always a good reason for not keeping a scheduled appointment. It is not our intent to “punish” anyone for failing to come for treatment. We have found, however, that it is best to be open and honest about what is expected so that we may provide the highest quality dental treatment at the most reasonable cost possible. Some practices charge hidden fees or higher prices to cover lost time due to broken appointments. Some practices schedule more patients than are able to be treated in a day. This results in rescheduling patients, incomplete treatment, and/or excessive patient wait time. We do not resort to any of these tactics to cover our costs for broken appointment times. In return, we ask our patients to honor their promises, just as we do ours.

Priority List

Some patients, due to the nature of their job, health, etc., just cannot know until the last minute if they will be available to come to the dentist. If you are in this category, we maintain a list of patients that can come on short notice when time becomes available. Please advise the staff if you would like to be on this list. If you are contacted when a priority appointment is available, there is no obligation to accept it.

Multiple Appointments for Family Members

Occasionally, patients request appointments to have several family members seen on the same day in concurrent or successive time slots. It is our pleasure to honor this request when possible. Please be aware, however, that for each family member that is unable to keep his or her appointment (without advance notification as noted under the Broken Appointment heading above), charges will be assessed after the first occurrence. If broken appointments continue in a family, we reserve the right to schedule members separately or refer to another practice.

Making Appointments for Others

Occasionally, an individual will call to make an appointment for a spouse, older child, etc. We prefer that patients make their own appointments to prevent any miscommunication regarding date, time, or treatment to be provided. We will accept these appointments but they are subject to all the other rules and expectations of appointments made personally. Please be sure that the patient for which the appointment is being made understands they must keep the commitment being made for them.

Thank you for your understanding of these important issues. If you have any questions or comments regarding these policies, please contact us as soon as possible so that your concerns may be heard.

Inadequate Time to Complete Treatment

At times, due to treatment complications, discovery of additional treatment needs, or inability to accurately diagnose by telephone, adequate time may not be available to complete the necessary procedures. Please be aware that every effort is made to schedule the appropriate amount of time for your needs. However, we ask for your understanding if all the treatment you require is not completed as planned. Needs vary with every patient and proper care requires adequate time for each procedure. We will do our best to address your dental needs in a timely fashion.

Specialist Referrals

Most dental procedures can be successfully treated at our office. However, we reserve the right to refer you for treatment to a dental specialist if it is our opinion that a specialist is required. We refer only to specialists that we believe will render excellent patient care. Whether or not a specialist is in a certain dental insurance network, (if there is specialist coverage at all in a certain dental insurance network) or whether or not treatment costs will be higher are not factors in deciding if referral is necessary. Referrals are based solely on your dental needs and particular case. We can not determine whether or not there is a specialist that participates in your dental plan or what your costs may be at another practice.

Guests in Treatment Areas

While you are always welcome to accompany your child during their dental visit, please be aware that many items in the operatories are sterile, fragile, and/or potentially dangerous. You should not touch or allow anyone else to tamper with anything in the treatment rooms in order to prevent cross contamination, damage, or personal injury. Because the size of our treatment areas are not expansive, only one guest or relative will be allowed in the treatment area in addition to the patient. The staff is not able to monitor guests so please make appropriate arrangements for their supervision or supervise them personally.

If a patient is accompanied by a parent or friend, we ask that the patient be allowed to interact with the staff directly. While comments directed to the patient by guests are usually intended to be helpful, they can be a source of confusion and fear in the dental setting, especially for young patients. Comments or questions directed to pediatric patients are designed to distract and calm, not necessarily to elicit important information. If you accompany a child into the treatment area, please respond only to questions specifically directed to you. Generally, it is not helpful for siblings to be guests during treatment.

Last updated: December 21, 2007