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Is Your Front Desk Losing Patients And Patience With Safety?

Is Your Front Desk Losing Patients And Patience With Safety?
by Karen Daw, MBA

A few years ago I offered to do a complimentary safety consultation for the dentist my mom visited. As a result, we discovered the sterilizer had not been tested in six months. I was concerned about the lack of testing, but my subsequent repeated phone calls to the practice to see if they had solved the problem were never returned.

Fast forward to my recent trip to see my mother in Hawaii, when she confessed she had not been to the dentist in a few years. A few years! Because we did not hear back from her previous dentist’s office, she was afraid of what else might be going on behind the scenes related to safety. She decided she would rather not go to the dentist, any dentist, anywhere, ever again.

Knowing my mother’s flair for drama, I took this information in stride while I sat in her kitchen noshing on a sweet papaya. Though it was the first day of my visit, I resolved to immediately find a practice that treated every patient like family. I began to make the first of many calls.

Practice number one had one of the highest Yelp reviews, so I made an appointment and anticipated I’d get the safety answers I wanted. I know, I know . . . we live in an era where offices can purchase five-star reviews or bribe people with toothbrushes for a positive review. But I figured this was a good place to start. It took three phone calls to reach someone who would even talk to me about infection control, and on the final call I was told the new manager had decided not to share any information with me. I did not make an appointment.

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