How to plan the treatment cycle in a dental practice
The cycle determines the structure of the day, and delegation determines who may occupy the chair. Both belong in the same plan: a free chair without a qualified person is not a free appointment, and prophylaxis without supervision on site is not permissible delegation.
As of:September 2026
Step 1: model treatment units as resources
In a dental practice the bottleneck is rarely the person alone but the pairing of chair and person. So start by modelling how many treatment units there are, and set the cycle you plan in: 20 minutes is usual.
The cycle is a planning unit, not a working time unit. Working time runs alongside it and also covers what happens between treatments.
Step 2: turn your delegation framework into staffing rules
Transfer your delegation framework into staffing rules once: which activity requires which further training. After that, prophylaxis hangs on the qualification and not on the free chair.
Anyone planning by presence instead books appointments that nobody is allowed to take on that day. Which services are delegable at all and what that follows from is set out on the industry page for dental practices.
- Store the qualification per person, not per position.
- Keep prophylaxis, X-ray and assistance as separate activities.
- Several qualifications per activity are possible where several routes are permissible.
Step 3: keep supervision as an activity of its own
Delegated services need somebody on site who orders and oversees them. In the plan that becomes a second condition alongside the qualification, and it gets lost when the presence of the treating dentists is kept only as working time.
So enter it as an activity of its own. Then it shows up during planning when prophylaxis falls in a time window where nobody is on site to supervise, rather than on the morning itself.
Knowing the rules is one thing, keeping to them day to day another. MetronHR checks breaks, rest periods and maximum working time automatically as time is recorded.
Step 4: handle drop-outs via the pool rather than via management
If somebody drops out, the open activity goes out as a request to everyone with the matching qualification. Whoever accepts is scheduled, and the plan updates itself.
That is the difference from a plan in a spreadsheet: there, somebody has to know who could step in and call them.
Step 5: record working time separately from the cycle
What is recorded is working time, to the minute and without rounding. The treatment cycle runs alongside as planning. Anyone equating the two records too little working time: sterilisation, preparation, documentation and ordering would otherwise drop out.
At the end of the month, the evaluation per person is ready with target, actual and balance, plus the variance between the plan and the actual time.
Further reading:Section 1(5) and (6) of the German Dental Practice Act (delegation) · Section 54 of the German Vocational Training Act (further training to dental hygienist) · The German Dental Association's delegation framework for dental assistants
This is not legal advice; for a specific case at your workplace you are better off asking someone qualified to give it.
Published by: AMNAU GmbH
Editorial responsibility: Ugur Aydogan, Product development.
Last reviewed: September 2026
Frequently asked questions
What we are asked about this most often.
As resources in the day plan, each with its own column in the time grid. That makes it visible whether a chair is free and whether somebody allowed to occupy it is there at the same time.
As qualifications per person, not as job titles. One person can hold several, and one activity can require several at once. Which service requires which further training is for the practice to decide on the basis of the delegation framework linked on the industry page.
Yes. The cycle is a property of the activity, not of the whole plan. A check-up can be planned in ten minutes, a root canal treatment in sixty.
It belongs to the Professional plan at 10 euros per person per month, together with the personnel file and the change history of time entries. The Team plan at 5 euros includes time recording, absences and overtime.
Question not answered here? Every step is explained in the help centre.
Knowing the rules is one thing. Keeping to them is another.
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