Dear Coach…

Chris Barrow with a tip on turning a trip to the hygienist into a big event.

Dear Coach…

I’d like to share a thought that occurred to me last week. I had our therapist do a little air abrasion and scaling on me before my business-card photo session. It’s not often that i get a chance to sit at the sharp end, and it was quite obvious from my perspective, that the appointment was hurried – too much to do in 20 mins. My initial thoughts are to increase the time for hygiene to 30 mins with 20 min exams.

It creates an event for the patient, rather than just something to be squeezed in, hopefully improving hygiene attendance in the process. We haven’t sat down and worked out the financials of such a move at present, but it’s a bit of a leap of faith.

Something else that occurred to me was how noisy and boring it is. Noise-cancelling headphones and shuffles loaded with different music genres seem like a good idea?

Dear Dentist…

Interesting how we need to be in the chair to see the light… You know that we have always been advocates of the longer hygiene visit – and also of the hygiene-based assessment system. Whether or not you do the latter – I agree that 20 minutes is a rush unless the hygienist is supported by a first-class nurse but I’d rather have an experience than a scale and polish…

Noise-cancelling headphones doesn’t work for me. A conversation with a team member who is genuinely interested? That does!

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