How to Cut Missed School Time from Pupils’ Trips to the Orthodontist

Summary:

• Orthodontic appointments disrupt pupils’ learning time, parents’ work and your school day.
• But demand amongst children and young adults for dentistry and orthodontic work is only on the rise.
• New developments in technology mean on-site orthodontics can now significantly cut pupils’ missed school time during treatment and minimise disruption to both parents’ and teachers’ days.

Lessons are pre-planned, punctuality prioritised and attendance is a prerequisite. Today, developments in EdTech also promise to give your teachers more time to do what they do best – teach.

But, despite these extensive efforts to maximise learning time, there are still certain disruptions to a pupil’s education that are seen as unavoidable.

One of the worst offenders? Perhaps surprisingly, it’s the orthodontist.

As we’ll explore, orthodontic treatment can take up an eye-opening amount of your pupils’ learning time. But it doesn’t need to be such a time drain.

In this blog we’ll look at how and why the current orthodontic service doesn’t work for schools, pupils or parents – as well as how your school can fix this issue to save time for everyone.

Without further ado, let’s dive in.

The Eye-opening Time Costs of Orthodontic Care

At least half your pupils will undergo orthodontic treatment to straighten their teeth with braces. And the number’s only rising.

While this is great news for your pupils’ smile – it’s not such great news for their education.

Why? It comes back to time.

During the course of an average 1 to 2 years of orthodontic treatment, your pupils will likely miss 88 hours of learning time. Yes, 88 hours!

More frustrating still is the fact that only 4 to 5 of those hours will actually be spent in dental surgery.

And it isn’t just your pupils’ time at stake.

Lessons are disrupted. Your reception team is burdened with more admin. And parents are forced to take time out of their day to play taxi.

Ultimately, all this time is wasted because of an inconvenient system.

Why Today's Orthodontics System is Inefficient

With increased demand for already over-subscribed NHS orthodontic providers, and waiting lists growing beyond 2 years in many regions, many families are turning to private care.

But, despite shorter waiting lists, traditional high-street dental practices rarely reduce the actual time a child misses from school – or the disruption to classrooms and parents.

Let’s take Olivia as an example.

It’s time for Olivia to visit the orthodontist.

Her dad has to stop what he’s doing, jump in the car and drive to school to meet Olivia as she leaves her lesson.

They drive 20 minutes into the town centre, find somewhere to park and walk to the orthodontist. After waiting 15 minutes in reception, Olivia goes into the dental surgery for 10 minutes to have her braces adjusted.

By the time Olivia and her dad get back to the car, there are only one and a half hours of lessons left in the school day. So, rather than dropping Olivia back at school – only to drive all the way back and pick her up again later – Olivia’s dad decides to take her straight home.

It’s only a couple of missed lessons, right?

But this missed time adds up over the course of orthodontic treatment. And even if Olivia does go straight back to school, she’s still missed almost two hours.

In the past, this long-winded process was the only way for children to get braces.

But new technology means things are changing.

How Technology is Making Orthodontics More Convenient

• Parents don’t need to waste time, money or contribute unnecessary pollution while playing taxi.
• Pupils get the same level of care, without missing out on vital face-time with teachers.
• And you and all your staff face less disruption to the school day.