'Nobody really wants to go to the dentist:' Utah practice's patient volume drops by 50%

Bountiful, Utah-based Page Family Dentistry experienced a 50 percent decline in patient volume during September and October, the practice's co-owner told local CBS affiliate KUTV.

Rob Page, DDS, told the station the practice usually schedules patients out six months, but the patients who would have scheduled appointments six months ago weren't able to due to pandemic-induced closures.

The practice's employees now work about two-thirds of the hours they used to. Dr. Page told KUTV he thinks it will take two or three years before the practice's patient volume returns to its pre-pandemic level.

"Nobody really wants to go to the dentist," Liz Forsyth, a Page Family Dentistry patient who visited the practice Oct. 21 after putting off a procedure since March, told KUTV.

Dr. Page also told the station he is more worried about how the decline in patient volume is affecting his patients' oral health than he is about how it is affecting the practice.

"Putting off routine dental care leads to much bigger problems in the future," he told KUTV.

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