Office Policies

How are Appointments Scheduled?

Our office attempts to schedule appointments at your convenience. Preschool children should be seen in the morning because they are more awake, and we can work more slowly with them for their comfort. School children with a lot of homework should be seen in the morning for the same reason. Dental appointments are an excused absence, and missing school can be minimal when regular dental care is scheduled.

Since appointed times are reserved for each patient, we ask that you please notify our office at least 24 hours in advance of your scheduled appointment time if you must cancel. Another patient could be scheduled if we have sufficient time to notify them. We realize that unexpected things happen, but we ask for your assistance in this regard.

Appointment Policy

Valuable time has been reserved for your child’s dental care at Children’s Dental Haven. A missed appointment results in lost time which prohibits another patient waiting to receive treatment from doing so. We make every effort to stay on schedule so we respectfully ask patients to be prompt and keep their appointments. Our standard appointment policy is as follows:

COURTESY CONFIRMATION

We will attempt to contact you either by phone, text or email prior to the scheduled appointment. This is to confirm with you the day and time reserved for your child.

24 HOUR NOTICE

If you must cancel your child’s appointment, please call our office at least 24 hours in advance. A 24 hour notice is required to cancel or change an appointment. A $25.00 fee, uncovered by your insurance, may be charged to your account if the appointment is missed, cancelled or rescheduled without 24 hours’ notice.

Exceptions to this policy can be determined only on an individual basis, according to the circumstances. We understand that, occasionally, children’s illness or other unexpected emergencies make it necessary to cancel an appointment with less than 24 hours’ notice. Please contact our office immediately and we will do our best to accommodate your situation.

LATE ARRIVALS

If you arrive 15 minutes late to your appointment, you may be asked to reschedule. Contingent upon the day’s schedule, you may be able to be worked in. If you agree to do so you must wait until an appointment time is available or another patient cancels.

BROKEN APPOINTMENTS

An appointment is considered broken if the patient:

• Does not show up for the appointment
• Arrives 15 minutes late
• Cancels the appointment with less than 24 hours’ notice
• Reschedules the appointment with less than 24 hours’ notice

Patients with two (2) broken appointments within a twelve month period will be eligible for emergency care only for a period of one year after the second broken appointment.

After one year, the patient may request reinstatement for routine care once again.

If after the one year reinstatement, the child continues to have repeated broken appointments, we reserve the right to request that your child establishes care at another dental office that can better accommodate your schedule.

SIBLINGS’ MISSED APPOINTMENTS

If two or more children from the same family miss their appointments on the same day in consecutive or successive time slots without giving a twenty-four (24) notice; the following guidelines will be followed:

• We will gladly reschedule the children’s appointments, but we reserve the right to schedule each child on separate days for all future appointments.
• Should the responsible party decide to keep the children’s future appointments on the same day, by transferring them to another dental office; we will gladly give the responsible party, the children’s dental records upon written request.

Do I stay with my child during the visit?

Of course! Dr. Poitevien has built Children's Dental Haven with the desire to provide parents the peace of mind that usually comes with being able to accompany their children’s dental visits. Whether it’s for a routine wellness visit or an appointment requiring treatment, both parents are always welcome to accompany the child if necessary for comfort.

ARE MY OTHER CHILDREN WHO ARE NOT RECEIVING TREATMENT BE ALLOWED IN THE TREATMENT AREAS?

• For the safety and privacy of all patients, other children who are not being treated should remain in the reception area with a supervising adult or you may make arrangements with a sitter for other children not receiving dental treatment.
• Please do not bring other siblings to the appointment. Siblings can be disruptive without meaning to be to the other sibling's care or to the other children who are receiving dental treatment in other rooms.
• We do not want siblings watching something that may scare them for any future appointments for themselves.
• WE DO NOT ALLOW OTHER SIBLINGS TO BE PRESENT IN THE TREATMENT ROOMS, WHILE ANOTHER SIBLING IS RECEIVINNG TREATMENT WITH NITROUS OXIDE AND/OR LOCAL INJECTIONS. WE WILL ASK FOR THE PARENT TO RESCHEDULE THE APPOINTMENT, IF THERE IS NO OTHER ADULT TO SUPERVISIE THE OTHER CHILD OUT IN THE RECEPTION AREA.

FOOD & DRINKS

No food or drink are allowed in both the reception room and the treatment area.

This includes bottled water and coffee mugs!

VIDEO AND PICTURE TAKING

In order to maintain patient privacy as required by HIPAA, pictures and video recordings of any kind are not allowed in the treatment area.

CELL PHONE USE

We ask that you reserve your cell phone use for the front waiting area. If you have to take an important phone call, please leave the treatment area and go back to the reception room or outside. Once you have completed the call, you may re-enter the treatment area.

ANIMAL POLICY

1. No pets are allowed.
2. No therapy or emotional support animals, are allowed.
3. Service animals, except for dogs, are welcomed if the owner was certified as disabled and if the animal was trained for that disability.
   • Please call the office to make arrangements prior to your visit, if you are planning on entering the facility with a service animal. We have to make sure that the other patients and parents who will be occupying the reception room and treatment areas are neither “allergic to” nor “fearful of” such animal.
   • If your service animal is a dog, please contact the office for an explanation of why dogs are not allowed; the manager can explain why Dr. Poitevien would not be able to perform dentistry with a dog in the treatment room, which she will be occupying.
   • The Oklahoma Board of Dentistry should have a list of dentists who would be able to provide dental treatment with the presence of a dog in the same treatment room occupied by the dental provider.