The Waiting Room

The conversations dentistry has when the patients can’t hear us.

ISSUE NO. 01  |  OCTOBER 2026

Apparently, the Front Desk Is Running the Entire Practice Now.

Come on in. We’re running behind.

Take a Seat

We Need You to Answer the Phone. While You’re on the Phone.

Somewhere in America, a dental receptionist is answering three phone lines, checking in a patient, verifying insurance, explaining a deductible, and trying to find out why yesterday’s deposit doesn’t match the day sheet.

A hygienist appears.

“Can you come perio chart for me?”

Absolutely. Right after I finish negotiating with Delta Dental and locating the patient who apparently left without paying.

Then the dentist walks by.

“Hey, while you’re just sitting there...”

And somewhere, deep in the soul of that receptionist, a tiny light goes out.

Welcome to The Waiting Room.

We have magazines from 2017, a television nobody can hear, and twelve people who all have appointments at 10:00.

Make yourself comfortable. Someone will be with you shortly.

 

The Main Conversation

The Most Expensive Chair in the Dental Office

It’s the one behind the front desk.

Not because the chair is particularly comfortable. It probably came from Office Depot in 2009 and has one wheel that periodically attempts an escape.

It’s expensive because of everything we’ve decided the person sitting in it should be responsible for.

Consider a typical morning.

At 8:00, the team huddles.

Accounts receivable is up. Collections are down. Insurance verification needs improvement. The schedule has holes. More Google reviews would be nice.

The front desk needs to answer every call, collect every balance, greet every patient with a smile, and avoid mistakes.

Wonderful.

At 8:07, the first patient arrives without an insurance card.

At 8:09, someone calls to dispute a balance from 2023.

At 8:11, the assistant announces that the sensor isn’t working.

At 8:13, the hygienist needs a perio chart.

At 8:15, a patient is checking out, the phone is ringing, and someone from the back asks why nobody has confirmed tomorrow’s patients.

By lunch, management is wondering why the insurance aging report hasn’t been worked.

We’ve confused assigning responsibility with providing the capacity to fulfill it.

A practice cannot reasonably demand uninterrupted accuracy from someone whose work is interrupted every ninety seconds.

And yet, that’s precisely how many offices operate.

We label everything urgent. We assign everything to the same person. Then we treat the resulting errors as individual performance problems.

Sometimes they are.

But before we blame the person, we ought to examine the system we’ve put them inside.

When nobody owns the workflow, everybody owns the consequences.

And the consequences don’t remain at the front desk.

Incorrect insurance information, missed collections, unsupported adjustments, and incomplete handoffs can all turn into financial problems that surface weeks later.

Usually in a report.

Usually followed by another meeting.

Usually beginning with, “We need the front desk to...”

Maybe.

Or maybe we need to stop designing jobs that require three employees, a therapist, and a minor supernatural event.

The takeaway: Before adding another responsibility to someone’s job, identify what work will be removed, reassigned, automated, or given protected time.

Otherwise, you’re not improving accountability.

You’re just adding another plate to the juggling act.

 

Things Dentistry Pretends Are Normal

“We’re Like a Family Here.”

Translation varies by office.

Sometimes it means a genuinely supportive team.

Other times it means:

  • Nobody has a written job description.
  • Everyone is expected to cover everyone else’s responsibilities.
  • Boundaries are treated as a personality defect.
  • The office manager knows everyone’s personal business but nobody knows who approves refunds.
  • You’re expected to attend a mandatory birthday lunch during your unpaid break.

And, of course, every family has that one person who hasn’t completed a task since 2019 but somehow knows exactly what everyone else is doing wrong.

Here’s an unpopular possibility:

A healthy workplace doesn’t need to call itself a family.

It needs clear expectations, functioning systems, mutual respect, and people who can take a vacation without returning to an archaeological site of unfinished work.

Family is wonderful.

But sometimes what an office really needs is an organizational chart.

 

Dental Office Bingo

Five in a row wins absolutely nothing.

Which, coincidentally, is also how the office incentive program works.

“Can you just squeeze them in?” Patient forgot insurance card “The computer changed it.” Hygienist needs perio charting Someone moved the lab case
“We’ve always done it this way.” Three phones ringing Dentist running 40 minutes behind “Who’s watching the front?” Patient wants to speak to manager
“I thought you called them.” Insurance portal down FREE SPACE: SOMEONE IS CRYING Scanner isn’t working Patient disputes 2022 balance
“It’ll only take a second.” Emergency patient, no appointment “Just put it through insurance.” Printer out of toner Nobody ordered gloves
“Can someone clean this room?” Patient checks in 30 minutes late “Did you collect the copay?” Lunch interrupted “Great huddle, team!”

Unofficial rules: You may not count the same disaster twice unless management has scheduled another meeting about it.

 

Overheard in Dentistry

Things You Can’t Make Up. Except These. We Did.

Dentist: “Why is the schedule so far behind?”

Assistant: “Because you started the crown prep forty minutes late.”

Dentist: “Right, but why?”

 

Patient: “My insurance covers everything.”

Front Desk: “Who told you that?”

Patient: “My insurance.”

A compelling witness. Unfortunately, unavailable for cross-examination.

 

Manager: “We really need everyone to stop multitasking.”

Also Manager: “Can you answer that phone while you’re checking her out?”

 

Bring Me a Problem

Your Turn. I’ve Got Questions.

What’s one thing your dental office does that makes absolutely no sense, but everyone accepts because “that’s how we’ve always done it”?

I’m particularly interested in policies that were apparently written during a lunar eclipse and have never been revisited.

Send me your stories, strange rules, office mysteries, or moments that left you staring silently into the middle distance.

No patient-identifying information. No real names unless you have permission.

The best submissions may become future Waiting Room conversations.

Names and identifying details will be changed when appropriate.

Your Name Has Been Called

Somewhere, a front desk employee is being told to smile more.

While answering the phone.

While solving a problem they didn’t create.

While someone asks if they’re busy.

Be nice to that person.

They may be the only reason the building is still functioning.

Until next month,

Michelle Repash

The Waiting Room

RepashGlobal LLC

One last thing: Reply and tell me the most ridiculous responsibility ever added to your job.

I’m collecting evidence.

For entertainment purposes. Mostly.

RepashGlobal.com  |  941-479-0010