Your Regular Visits

Scheduling Appointments

For your convenience, appointment times are available Monday through Thursday from 8:30am to 5:00pm. The office is also open on Friday morning for administrative purposes. During active orthodontic treatment, our patients are usually seen at regular intervals about 6 to 10 weeks apart for adjustments to their appliances. These visits usually take about 20 minutes. Patients are seen by appointment only. If you cannot keep an appointment, please notify us immediately. It may be difficult to reschedule you at very short notice since most appointments are made many weeks in advance.

We understand fully that many of our patients are adolescents and wish to be seen after school. Our schedule has been designed for the convenience of our patients, with some very specific objectives:

• To accommodate patients at their appointed times
• To allow our communications throughout treatment to be as thorough as possible, and as frequent as may be needed
• To minimize the need for excessive time away from school and/or work

We have designed a schedule whereby the vast majority of the appointments can be scheduled during the more desirable early or late times, and longer or more involved procedures are performed during reserved times throughout the morning, or early afternoon hours. By doing this, we do not reserve an entire afternoon for one or two patients but rather accommodate as many families as possible for early morning and after-school appointments. If you prefer to come to the office during a quieter time, you may schedule your appointments during school hours.

Late or Missed Appointments

We realize that occasionally, unforeseen circumstances could necessitate a change in appointment, or cause you to overlook an appointment. Our goal in rescheduling appointments is to keep treatment progressing and on time. We will do our best to reschedule your appointment as soon as possible. However, to avoid a delay in treatment, it may become necessary to reschedule an after-school or work appointment during school or work hours. Missed appointments, waiting a month for late appointments or numerous appointment changes will inevitably result in an extension of your treatment time.

Visiting your dentist during orthodontic treatment

It is especially important that you continue to visit your primary care dentist once every three to six months during your orthodontic treatment for regular dental appointments. We always coordinate your orthodontic plan with your family dentist to make sure that you are receiving the best overall care possible, but your orthodontic adjustment appointments never substitute for your essential dental care.