Why do dental patients procrastinate treatments?

There are a number of obvious reasons that patients do not receive timely dental treatment. Some obvious reasons are time, money,and fear of dentists .  Another reason that probably is actually the most common is "Nothing is bothering them"  and  going to the dentist is just not one of their favorite activities.

At times when my staff calls our patients to  remind them that it is time to schedule  recall visit, they are often told that the patient is too busy, too ill,going on vacation, or has no money and often my staff is told that the patient will call us back at some future point.
When some of these AWOL patients do come in , they confess to me that what actually got them to come in was that was that they were having some pain or twinges and felt it was time.

I believe that all people have  problems that they are forced to deal with on a weekly basis and they often chose to deal with their most urgent issues first. To complicate matters, in our  uncertain economic climate, people are even more loath to take any time off from their jobs to go to their doctors for non urgent care, since that may make them appear less than fully committed to their jobs.

Probably it is human nature to manage our schedules based on our most urgent needs or problems, but where dentistry is concerned this usually does not lead to the optimal dental health. Early diagnosis and treatment are key to maintaining our patients dental health and them receiving regular cleanings, will tend to prevent many dental problems from developing. We in the dental profession have a proud history of advocating for prevention and  dental health has been shown to be important to our over all general health. I truly believe that even in these difficult times It is as important as ever for our profession to continue preaching prevention and hope that our patients continue to  respond to our message.

About the author:

Dr. Lawrence Spindel is dentist with a dental practice located in Manhattan, located on 30 East 40th St, New York, N.Y. 10016. His dental practice has an emphasizes Cosmetic,Implant and Preventive Dentistry.