{"id":14124,"date":"2014-12-10T09:52:02","date_gmt":"2014-12-10T14:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=14124"},"modified":"2014-12-10T09:52:33","modified_gmt":"2014-12-10T14:52:33","slug":"for-your-dental-office-its-like-a-month-of-black-fridays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=14124","title":{"rendered":"For your dental office, it’s like a month of Black Fridays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between the holiday rush and end of benefits year, your dentist may be oversubscribed<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Dr. Stephanie McGann<\/strong>, DMD FAGD, Columnist, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"UTStephCollogo\"<\/a>It\u2019s holiday time. Just in case you missed the catalogs stuffed in your mailbox. The thousands of emails with \u201cextended black Friday savings\u201d or the sparkling Christmas trees, waiting to replaced by valentine hearts on December 26th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Yes, the year is coming to a close and while we rush around getting the perfect gifts, wrestling with outdoor lights, and contemplating the family gatherings, your dentist has one more thing on their list \u2013 crunch time.<\/p>\n

Each year, as December rolls around dental practices across America have to deal with the holiday rush. No other time is the pressure on for dentists to hurry up and get it done. \u00a0As a dentist, a mom, a practice owner, an employer and sometimes even a patient \u2013 I thought a glimpse into the inside of the profession might be kind of fun.<\/p>\n

Why year end crunch time?<\/p>\n

Dental Benefit Blues, Many families have dental benefits that are \u201cuse it or lose it\u201d these benefits do not roll over into the next calendar year.\u00a0 For some families the first time they see a dentist is in December and if some dentistry is needed we are pressured to get it completed before the end of the year.\u00a0 We all try to accommodate but there are really and truly only so many hours in a day.<\/p>\n

College students returning home for the holidays. We often get calls from mom or dad that they need their teeth cleaned, before they go back.<\/p>\n

Dental labs get backed up \u2013 With so many folks maximizing their dental benefits, the laboratory and support services get swamped.\u00a0 Things that may take 5-6 days in the lab normally, but may take 7-10 days at this time of year. That’s not usually a problem except for the holiday, and crunch time.\u00a0 And also, normal lab delivery times may be altered due to the busy schedules of the UPS and FedEx folks.<\/p>\n

Emergencies \u2013 Unexpected dental concerns happen. This is no different except around the holiday and end of the year we are working to accommodate the concern and work around everyone\u2019s holiday and travel plans.\u00a0 Nothing ever happens when it\u2019s convenient.<\/p>\n

Down time \u2013 yes all of us folks in the dental industry are people too. We have families, school obligations, children with holiday concerts etc. Sometimes we have to put our own families first. This week, I will be leaving the office 90 minutes early to attend my daughter\u2019s holiday concert. She has a solo.<\/p>\n

Now it may seem as if I\u2019m whining about being busy, I am not. I love being busy and after 25 years of practicing dentistry I love the rush and know that when I am done, we will have our office party and a few well deserved days off.\u00a0 We plan for this.\u00a0 The purpose of this glimpse is to show the reality of dentistry in December \u2014 so you have a better understanding of why when your dentist tells you something isn’t possible.<\/p>\n

A few things to think about though: Don\u2019t wait till December, if you have benefits, don\u2019t procrastinate. If you have college-age kids, don\u2019t wait till they walk through the door to call your dentist.\u00a0 Most of all, be patient with your dental team, this is our busy time and we are trying our best to meet the needs of our patients, our employees and our families. It’s a bit like an entire month of black Fridays.<\/p>\n

Still shopping?\u00a0 Here is the dental holiday gift guide:<\/p>\n

Sonicare toothbrush<\/p>\n

Sonicare Kids<\/p>\n

OralB 5000<\/p>\n

Dental whitening gels or pens \u2013 ask your dentist what products they prefer.<\/p>\n

If you have someone on your list who needs dental care \u2013 ask your dentist about a gift certificate for an exam and x-rays.<\/p>\n

Stocking Stuffer idea there are many fun flavors of dental floss for even the pickiest person. Bacon floss anyone? For kids, check out the colorful box of Crayola toothpaste.<\/p>\n

May the holiday season find you happy and healthy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dr. Stephanie McGann, who has more than two decades of dental practice experience, is a resident of the Unionville area and along with her partner, Dr. Marie Scott, operates The Brandywine Smile Center<\/a>, a family-friendly dental practice in Concordville. Dr. McGann <\/em>has opened a new practice in Valley Township, Rainbow Valley Dental<\/a>. She is a Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Between the holiday rush and end of benefits year, your dentist may be oversubscribed By Dr. Stephanie McGann, DMD FAGD, Columnist, The Times It\u2019s holiday time. Just in case you missed the catalogs stuffed in your mailbox. The thousands of emails with \u201cextended black Friday savings\u201d or the sparkling Christmas trees, waiting to replaced by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,109],"tags":[259,5622,5468,5621],"class_list":["post-14124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-health","tag-dentistry","tag-end-of-year","tag-holiday-season","tag-scheduling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14125,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14124\/revisions\/14125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}