Why do fearful dental patients fail their appointments so often?
Because fear is physiological, not just emotional, and it works against you the moment you book them. Fear fires off a cascade of responses in the body, and one of them is plain avoidance. A frightened patient is not in a mental state that wants to come to the dentist, so the system that protects against discomfort tells them to not show up. The further out you schedule them, the more time that avoidance has to win. If you advertise for fearful patients you have to plan around this, not pretend it away. Tighten the interval between the call and the visit so the fear has less runway. Build credibility before the date, not just on the date. And get a prepaid or guaranteed exam fee in place so there is a real reason to walk through your door.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.