The ChairGap magazine
Hygiene recall, scheduling, insurance and the working economics of a one to three chair dental practice in the US.
Written for the person who opens the schedule at 7:40 in the morning and has to decide what to do about the two names that came off it overnight. Every article is written by Jimenez Julien and dated the day it was published.
practical guide
A step by step routine for turning tomorrow's two open hygiene slots into seated patients, from pulling the overdue list before the first appointment to confirming the last seat by mid afternoon.
comparison
Three hygiene codes, three different patients. Here is what each one requires in the chart, how plans treat frequency, and how the code you choose sets the recall interval you will schedule.
mistakes to avoid
Most hygiene recall systems fail in the same seven places: the list, the reset rules, the ask, the channel, the wording, the cleanup, and the person who owns it after five o'clock.
regulation and compliance
Two separate rulebooks govern a recall text: HIPAA decides what the message may say, and the TCPA decides whether you may send it at all. Here is what each one requires of a dental office.
case study
A composite walkthrough, built from how small offices actually run recall, of a two chair practice retiring its monthly postcard run and rebuilding the same job around a texted overdue list.
trends and outlook
Open hygiene hours are a staffing problem before they are a marketing problem. A look at assisted hygiene, expanded function assistants, dental therapists, and the pay math a small owner faces.
checklist
A working checklist for November and December: unused maximums, remaining deductibles, frequency limits, unscheduled treatment plans, FSA deadlines, and the holiday weeks that quietly empty a schedule.
numbers and benchmarks
An open hygiene hour is not free time, it is paid time. Here is how to build the cost of one from your own payroll, rent, and fee schedule, then find how many filled gaps cover a slow week.
field report
Follow one front desk from the first voicemail to the last confirmation call and watch where tomorrow's hygiene column loses its patients, hour by hour, in a small independent dental office.
The tool behind The Open Chair
ChairGap reads the openings in tomorrow's hygiene column, ranks the continuing care patients whose recall date has already passed, and sends the one tap text that books the chair. The reporting in these articles comes from watching that work happen at the front desks of small US practices.
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