First off, they are a PPO. I cringed immediately. He's retired military and has only had a private office for 7 years. They started from scratch and this was a good way to get clientele. Turns out though that PPO insurance has been pretty economy proof for them. Of course, some people have lost their jobs and insurance, but overall they have stayed in really great shape because of their set up. Huh.
Second off, they told me I have 45 minutes for my recare clients. My eyes got really big at this point. No hygiene assistant either. She explained that I finish up all of my work and then start on the next client in the next chair. My first client then gets a dental exam and a final fairwell from the dentist, he walks them out and gets to talk to them for a minute. Uh, ya, I suppose that in an office where you "have an hour" you really only have 50 minutes... So, it doesn't change how much time I have for clients all that much because that time usually includes a dental exam. It's like a weird one-person modified version of accelerated hygiene....but it's not really that accelerated. I was put off at first, but once she explained it to me I thought it was really smart!
I asked how long her last hygienists stayed to get a feel for how they liked it. Their first hygienist worked for 5 years until she retired and their second hygienist was there for 2 years and is now going to be a stay at home mom until her kids are older. So clearly, it was fine. She said that their hygiene schedule never gets behind because you are never sitting there waiting around for the dentist to come by. I hate waiting. So we'll see how it goes! I have a second interview this week and if I get the job, I'll let you know how I like it. Never heard of a schedule like that before!!
