diff --git a/libs/astradb/langchain_astradb/graph_vectorstores.py b/libs/astradb/langchain_astradb/graph_vectorstores.py
index 7fc32bf..501b1ea 100644
--- a/libs/astradb/langchain_astradb/graph_vectorstores.py
+++ b/libs/astradb/langchain_astradb/graph_vectorstores.py
@@ -628,7 +628,7 @@ async def fetch_initial_candidates() -> None:
                     retrieved_docs[doc_id] = doc
 
                 if doc_id not in outgoing_links_map:
-                    node = self._doc_to_node(doc)
+                    node = _doc_to_node(doc)
                     outgoing_links_map[doc_id] = _outgoing_links(node=node)
                     candidates[doc_id] = embedding
             helper.add_candidates(candidates)
@@ -986,7 +986,7 @@ async def _get_outgoing_links(self, source_ids: Iterable[str]) -> set[Link]:
 
         for doc in docs:
             if doc is not None:
-                node = self._doc_to_node(doc=doc)
+                node = _doc_to_node(doc=doc)
                 links.update(_outgoing_links(node=node))
 
         return links