Dentist Schedules: Time Management Meets Dental Management
Post comments about dentists open for evening hours to our blog
Dentists
are busiest on Monday, with Tuesday and Thursdays as runners-up. Time management
turns out to be an important
dental management
issue.
Just over half (55%) of practices offer evening hours, and 37% let patients make weekend appointments.
"Weekdays after 4 and Saturdays are good times for patients," observed one dentist.
We asked dentists which is their busiest day of the week.
- Monday 28%
- Tuesday 20%
- Wednesday 14%
- Thursday 20%
- Friday 5%
- Saturday 13%
- Sunday 0%
Many patients expect evening and weekend hours... and if you can't accommodate them, then they'll find a dentist who can!
Here are some comments from dentists about the best hours to be open:
Morning!
- "Early morning hours are good." (Connecticut dentist)
Afternoon!
- "Patients like afternoon hours." (Athens Greece dentist)
Evenings!
- "Evenings are popular." (Maryland pediatric dentist)
- "I prefer the evening." (Jordan orthodontist)
- "8:00 am to 7:00 pm seems to be best."
- "I am open until 7pm 2 days a week. Early morning works as well." (Georgia dentist)
- "Thursday is busiest because it is the day we are open into the evening." (Texas dentist)
Weekends!
- "Weekdays after 4 and Saturdays are good times for patients." (General dentist)
- "Saturday morning and early afternoon appointments are very popular with our patient population. We have been offering appointments every other Saturday since we opened 6 years ago. With our appointment reminder system, we rarely have no-shows." (Ohio prosthodontist)
Not open on Fridays
- "We work Monday through Thursday, so after the 3-day weekend, Monday is busy. On Friday, if the weather was nice, patients always cancelled. We work Tuesday evenings instead. The staff and I love 3-day weekends. Nice quality of life. I highly recommend it." (Pennsylvania dentist)
Going to have to open on Fridays
- "With the new economy, I will need to start opening on Fridays and take what I can get. Going broke in Alaska!" (Alaska dentist)
Save Fridays for major cases like dental implants and sedation dentistry
- "Friday is a highly productive day because I see only high production cases without all of the small procedures interrupting my case."
Note: Survey sample included 64 respondents.
