I live in Montreal, Canada. I don't know about elsewhere, but here an average recall appt (xray cleaning exam) costs about 250$. I've heard that it's pretty much "a thing" that many dentists here categorically refuse to do hygiene whenever they find associateship. I do not understand, especially in the case of new grads, why they would refuse to do hygiene as, by my calculations, it seems that hygiene can be a very profitable procedure when high enough speed is developed.

For example, my own dentist is able to get my recall appt done in under 20 minutes (I don't necessarily have the best hygiene), which made me realize she can pretty much do 3 recalls in an hour and bill 750$, which would end up being the same amount as doing a few fillings in an hour time. In addition to that, as far as I understand, cleanings don't cost much in terms of overhead, no?..

It just seems that with enough speed, if you're able to go through 2-3 recall appts an hour while keeping an acceptable quality of work, you can be very profitable even by doing hygiene. Of course, I am not saying that your whole day should be booked with recalls, but in cases where the front desk has trouble booking treatments for you and you end up having gaps in your schedule, why not suck it up and book a few recalls?

Overall, it feels like hygiene can be such a hack, especially if you own your practice. Maybe there are important details i'm forgetting which is why I would like to know what you guys think about this.

Looking forward to discuss:)