Emergency visits to healthcare facilities typically increase on the day following a holiday, as those with non-life-threatening injuries put off seeking care until after the party is over. St. Patrick’s Day, a holiday classically celebrated with the drinking of green beer, notes another interesting statistic: visits to the dentist.
According to a study conducted by Sikka Software, the day following St. Patrick’s Day is one of the top ten busiest days of the year for dentists, with patients seeking emergency appointments increasing by 64 percent on average across the United States.
In fact, every state saw an increase in patient volume, excepting Vermont where residents seem to experience lower key St. Patrick’s Day festivities. Some states, including Mississippi and Delaware, saw an increase in over 150 percent. Dr. Page Barden, a dentist in Cumming, Georgia, echoes the study’s conclusions, and notes that “dentists are very busy the day after we celebrate St. Patrick.” He points to multiple factors that influence these statistics, including patients who “can become clumsy and fall down, doing a face plant in the sidewalk,” or those who imbibe too much of the green stuff, and become so inebriated that they find themselves “biting someone they have offended in the fist with their teeth.”
It is of note that while men typically see an increase of 64 percent in visits to the dentists’ office following an unlucky St. Patrick’s Day, women seem to have fewer emergency visits, with a decrease in six percent on average. With all the extra volume, perhaps dentists’ offices should consider turning to locum tenens. Locum tenens providers can deliver the necessary qualified dentists on a temporary basis to assist in maximizing patient care and decreasing wait times.
For more information on how locum tenens can help your dentist office handle an ever increasing patient volume, please visit Bartonassociates.com.
