How do you encourage patients to schedule three month recall appointments?

I strongly believe that my patients over 40 do better on a 3 month recall hygiene schedule rather than a traditional 6 month schedule. Unfortunately many dental insurance plans do not cover this. To make this option more affordable for our patients, with and without dental insurance, we often schedule exams every other cleaning. This saves our patients an $80 out of pocket expenditure and often encourages them to schedule extra cleanings. Hopefully the additional costs of these cleanings will be recouped by them spending less in the long run by avoiding health  problems. Most patients feel that cleanings are good for their dental health, and studies have shown a correlation between healthy gums and overall health.

Although dental insurance can be a God send, it sometimes can incentivize less than optimal care, since patients tend to choose procedures that are covered by their plan. Similarly, many dentists choose to promote care that is covered by dental plans and do not promote treatment that may be beneficial for patients but not covered by their insurance. Well covered recommendations have a better overall acceptance rate than recommendations for treatment not covered by a patient's insurance plan.

Due to this trend, insurance plans tend to have a role in influencing prevailing standards of care ( for better or worse) and often insurance companies are slow to accept newer treatment options. Instead they tend to encourage dentists to stick to approaches that are more commonly supported by a patient's dental insurance. For example, many dental insurance plans stop paying for in office flouride treatments when a patient turns nineteen even though this is a rather arbitrary decision. Accordingly, few adult patients do receive in office flouride treatments even though they might benefit from them, after their cleaning.