 Hello everybody, Andrea Maeski here with Dental L. So day in the life of a mobile hygiene practice owner. So I'm just gonna talk about it cause I wish I had somebody to follow me around with a camera, but I don't at the time. So how do I set up, how do I prepare for my day? How do I book patients? So overall, I see about two households per day. Two or three if I'm that busy. And I try to go to one city per day. Or you know, so then that way I'm not going to one city and then having to travel half an hour out of the way to see the next house. So I will only see patients in the same area per day. It was tricky to do that when I first started my practice cause I just wanted to get in patients. So I was going all over the place, but now thankfully I am able to do that. For example, I was in Woodstock yesterday. Tomorrow I am traveling here in town in St. Thomas. The next day I'm going to New Hamburg. So you know, I try to see people in the same area per day. So I see two or three households at the most. The amount of people that I see per household will obviously depend on how many houses I go to. So I do try to have the day go from like nine to four. So then that way I am home by five o'clock every day cause it's just nice to not have to work too much, right? And mobile hygiene is hard because you have to lift everything in the car, out of the car, into patients' homes, sometimes up steps, down steps. So that's the hardest part. I'm used to it now, but when I first started I would be doing all of that. And then I would be tired by lugging in all of that stuff and then I'd have to clean somebody's teeth. So it was hard, but you get used to it. And that's probably why a lot of people don't continue to do mobile hygiene because it is hard and they don't push through it until they get used to it, right? I just lost my train of thought. I was going to say, I was talking about how many people I see in a day. We talked about that, oh, okay. So let's talk about timing. So if I'm seeing one adult patient, I book two hours, one hour for the cleaning and then one hour after that. So it takes me about 20 minutes to set everything up and then 20 minutes to tear everything down. So one hour for the cleaning plus 40 minutes total for tear down and set up, that's almost two hours. So per person I book two hours. If I'm seeing, for example, two adults in one household then I will book three hours because I need the one hour for the one adult, another hour for the other and then I do always account for the hour total of 20 minutes to tear down time, 20 minutes set up time. So yes, that's only 40 minutes but I like to have the extra 20 for just whatever, right? So you might be wondering, well, if you're seeing two different houses how do you plan your time that way? Plus you need a break. When I first started my practice I kind of forgot to schedule a break for myself. So I would be at one house, seeing a couple of patients and then I'd have to go to the other house and I would have like 20 minutes to spare. Even if the next house is 10 minutes away I'm only allowing myself a 10 minute break. Well, I kind of need more than that, right? Plus you should be taking notes after every patient. So I've changed things a little bit. So now what I do is I book an hour extra for my lunch time, okay? And that does help so much. So if I'm done a little bit early, that's okay. Then I have a little bit longer. If I'm a little bit late then I might get 45 minutes further lunchtime but that's okay. So make sure to book and lunch for yourself. Plus I take my laptop with me everywhere. I have my dental hygiene software on my laptop. So after I see a patient I do write all of my notes in the car. The best thing ever is get a recorder because that's what I do when I'm at somebody's house for charting because I don't have an assistant. So I will turn that on. Chart the odonogram, do the new patient exam, talk about anything. And then I listen to that in the car and then do all of my notes on my laptop. So that really helps. I didn't have a recorder initially but because I thought that I would just remember things but you don't, you forget. So that helps so much. A lot of people ask me, well, doesn't it feel weird like going to people's houses? You don't know who they are. You get used to it. I just say hi, I am here to clean your teeth today and that's just how it is. I do have every single patient fill out a medical history online before I see them though. So then that way I do have an idea of what I'm walking into. Has it been 10 years since their last cleaning? Has it been six months? Do they have insurance? Do they want me to put things through to their insurance first? Is cost a concern? Things you like to know. I see a lot of patients that are very, very anxious. So that is good to know beforehand, right? So then that way you just sort of plan things a little bit differently. You might talk a little bit more. You try to make the patient comfortable. So I have them fill out the forms first before I see them. And then that way too, before I see them, if they want me to submit to their insurance company, they have to call their insurance to get all of that info. I do not do that because I'm doing them a favor. That's how I see it, by having them only have to pay the difference. I don't have time and I don't have an assistant. I don't have a receptionist to do all of that work. So I do tell them it's their policy plus I do tell them with the privacy laws now, insurance doesn't tell me a lot. So even if I did call them, they might tell me info. They may or may not. So it is up to them to call, to ask the percentage that they are covered for and to check to make sure that they are covered for a re-care, a scale, a polish, and a fluoride if needed. And that's it. So I have them do the hard work, which isn't hard for them because they should have all of that info anyway beforehand. So then that way they are fully aware. Afterwards, I do follow up with all of my patients that night, just to make sure that they are doing okay, if they have any questions, if they're sore, sensitive, anything. So I make sure to do the follow up. And I do book their next appointment that day because that helps me build my practice. When I have appointments, when I have people, that helps, right? So I don't wait for them to book. I book it that day for their next one. It would just be so much nicer if somebody could follow me around with a camera, right? So that way I can show you guys how it actually works. But if you guys have any questions, let me know. I am so happy to help. I do have my at home practice too, as you guys can see. But I will do another video on that maybe a little bit later. So thank you guys so much for watching. If you need anything, let me know. And have a very good day.