13 Scheduling
Written by Andrew Maldonado
Updated at September 4th, 2025
| Calls from Referring Doctor, Staff Members, or Hospital Calls | If a referring doctor, staff member, or hospital calls regarding a patient or to schedule- call is to be forwarded to the office. It is ok to help with basic information or if scheduling a non- emergent patient. For calls from hospital for Dr. Walker related to Trauma should be immediately transferred to Dr. Walker. |
| Questions | Billing questions go to Christie at the Lawrenceville office. Insurance questions go to Lauren. |
| Online Patient Registration | Advise patients to fill out online patient registration at atlofs.com. (This is required for new patients or those seen over a year ago). |
| Remind Patient to bring to Consult | Remind patient to bring their referral, insurance cards, and xrays with them to consult. (We always take our own pano at consult, if they had an xray taken within a year elsewhere they will not be charged for this). |
| Age Requirement | No age requirement for scheduling a consult. Patients under the age of 2 are referred to Egleston Children's Hospital. |
| Scheduling Consult / Surgery Appointmentts | All patients must have a consult first! If an existing patient being seen for a new issue they must have a consult first. Last consult to be scheduled at 3:30pm. When scheduling a consult for removal of impacted 3rds, please make sure that the doctor is in network with both medical and dental insurances. Medical is considered primary in this case. Consults are scheduled in the middle column, surgeries in the left column, and follow ups in the right column Mornings are reserved for surgeries. Never guarantee same day procedure, it is entirely up to the doctor’s discretion and the level of urgency. |
| Follow Up Appointments | Follow ups are scheduled in the right column. Last follow up to be scheduled at 4:00pm. Follow ups must be scheduled with the established provider. |
| Patient Being Referred for a CT | If a patient calls saying that their doctor is referring them for a CT, let them know that our doctor will determine this at the consult if he will need this for treatment. (These scans can only be done at Lawrenceville and Braselton). |
| Exam Appointments | No exam extract appointments scheduled for 11:30 or 3:30 (right before lunch or last appt of the day). Ok to schedule any other exam appointments. |
| Implant Post Extraction Appointments | IPE (Implant Post Extraction) appointments will occur about 3 months after an extraction for the patient to see the doctor and discuss having an implant. These appointments should be scheduled as an IPE and not a follow up. IPE appointments are for existing patients that are coming to discuss their implant after an extraction that was done in our office. |
| Implant Types | Implant Direct Nobel |
| Siblings | Siblings can be seen at the same time double booked. *Extend appointment by 10 additional minutes. Advise that online forms are required to be completed prior to the visit for both patients. (Do not schedule at the 3:30 time slot). |
| Calls to be forwarded to / scheduled by the office | Trauma patients or those seen at the hospital are to be forwarded to the office. OGS consults are only to be scheduled by Erin and forwarded to the office. Work-in patients are to be scheduled by office. |
| TMJ | None of the providers see TMJ. They refer these patients to Dr. Mayoor Patel 678-899-6076. |
| Removal of Impacted 3rds | Medical Insurance is considered primary for removal of impacted 3rds. Please make sure when scheduling a consult that the doctor is in network with both medical and dental insurances. |
| Cancellation List | If patient is requesting to be added to the cancellation list- notate in the appointment notes and email the office. The office will add them to the cancellation list. Usually utilize the cancellation list most for surgeries and during peak times. |
| Patients with Special Needs | If a patient has special needs, extend consult time by 10 minutes. |
| Same Day Procedure | Never guarantee same day procedure, it is entirely up to the doctor’s discretion and the level of urgency. |
| How is the need for a medical clearance notated? | If a patient will need a clearance there is a note in the doctors notes and there is usually an alert or a note made in the contact notes. We try NOT to schedule these patients until we have the clearance. |
| How long is a consult good for? | Patient’s initial consult and treatment plan are good for 1 year. |
| Duplicate Accounts | Send information to Christie and she will take care of which account will be used. |
| IV Sedation | Propofol is typically what is used for IV sedation. |
| Cephs | Cephs are only done at Braselton. |
| Dr. Gardner | Does not do OGS, trauma, or hospital on call. |
| Dr. Pathak | Please have some detail on the schedule about why the patient is coming to the office (ie= which tooth number, if known?) Mornings are for surgery, use the time to add surgeries and only add a consult if the surgery schedule is not full. If a patient needs a follow up in the morning, then ideally it should be at the beginning or end of the morning or afternoon (try not to schedule them at the time of a surgery). I would not want them to wait if it will be a short, quick visit. Would like consults to complete paperwork online prior to visit. If it cannot be so, then please email the patient a copy of the registration and have them send it to us asap (or at least the day prior to their visit). Sees Sleep Apnea patients but it is rare. Will not be seeing patients for SUAD appointments until further notice. Buford - When scheduling a patient with Dr. Pathak in the Buford office, please ask them, “Do you have any physical disabilities that would prevent you from being able to stand for an xray for 5-10 minures?” If the patient answers, “YES” then please schedule them in the Lawrenceville or Braselton office. (The xray room there does not provide enough room for a wheelchair.) Dr. Pathak speaks Spanish |
| Dr. Walker | Do not add ANYTHING to his schedule same day OR move any appt times etc for the same day without speaking to the front office. We will handle ALL changes for the same day locally. Lawrenceville & Braselton – Due to the high volume Dr. Walker sees we will require paperwork to be completed and in our office by 12 midnight the night before consultation. If patient is unable to complete via our website, they are to contact our office and we can email or mail a copy of registration that must be back to our office completed prior to the day of appt. If the registration is not completed and chart is not ready for the appt it will need to be “rescheduled pending completion of the registration materials”. |