A common "stressor" and challenge that is often expressed is the juggling of multi-provider schedules while trying to fit in multiple hygiene exams throughout the day.
The hygiene exams are absolutely necessary for patient care, diagnosis of restorative dentistry, coding and billing, as well as legislative requirements.
The hygiene exam often is seen as an interruption that can cause chaos and "running behind" for everyone. This chaos creates negative stress that inevitably affects the dentist's ability to properly assess, diagnose and treatment plan the day-to-day dentistry that fills his/her restorative schedule. This chaos is best overcome with the development of a consistent process to review the oral health while building patient relationships.
On average, the "recall or hygiene" check should take approximately three to five minutes of the Dr.'s time in the hygiene room. In order to achieve this, it is vital to have a system for the smooth transfer of the information gathered by the hygienist, in the 45-55 minutes that she has spent with the patient, to the dentist in a short time frame of a few minutes.