Appointments

Most patients undergoing orthodontic treatment have important obligations during the day. During active orthodontic treatment, we will need to see you regularly (usually every 5 to 8 weeks). Unfortunately, some of these appointments may conflict with work or school schedules.

From years of experience, we have created a master schedule that, over the entire course of treatment, works most efficiently for you and the office. Because we know your time is valuable, we do our very best to stay on time. Prompt arrival for your appointment will enable us to utilize all the time we have reserved for you, including your adjustments, instructions and to answer any questions.

We also ask that you keep your regular appointments in the same office location. Your diagnostic records, chart, and treatment plan are kept in this office and need to be readily available at each of your appointments. Emergency visits will be accommodated at any location.

Long Appointments

These would include diagnostic records (before, during and after treatment), placement or addition of appliances, treatment consults, and initial exams. Our office typically schedules these in the morning due to the increased doctor time associated with these procedures.

Short Appointments

Short appointments such as visits for routine adjustments or retainer deliveries or minor emergencies can be scheduled early in the morning, after school, or during school hours - 75% of all of your visits will fall within this category. Because these are usually scheduled 6 to 8 weeks in advance, it is important that you make these appointments this far ahead to give you the best chance of finding one that suits your schedule.

Missed, Late, or After-Hours Appointments

A "missed appointment" is any appointment which is missed, cancelled or rescheduled without 24 hours notice. A "late appointment" is any which a patient arrives more than 15 minutes after their scheduled appointment time. If you are more than 15 minutes late, we reserve the right to reschedule your appointment to the next available time for the procedure scheduled. Our office utilizes the "three strike" rule regarding missed and/or late appointments. At the third and any subsequent missed and/or late appointment a $35.00 fee will be assessed to your account. The after-hours charge for any office visit outside our regular office hours is $100.00.

Broken or Lost Appliances

Proper care of orthodontic appliances is essential for successful treatment. Extra time is required to recement or rebond broken appliances. If a patient presents for their regularly scheduled appointment with loose or lost appliances, they may be asked to reschedule out of consideration for other patients scheduled that day. At the third incident, if the breakage is due to patient neglect or lack of cooperation, your account will be charged a broken appliance fee for each broken bracket, band, wire, etc. Lost appliances (headgear, lip bumper, retainers) will be charged a replacement fee. This fee is due at the appointment when the appliances are repaired.

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