Dental scheduling software is the most-searched purchase a small practice makes and the least understood, because the calendar it shows in the demo is the part the practice management suite already does. This page is for the office manager deciding what dentist scheduling software has to add: the recall list of patients who are due and have no booking, the reminder at the lead time the practice chose, and the confirmation recorded against the patient. It also answers the question the practice is really asking about dental online scheduling and online dental scheduling for patients: whether letting patients book themselves fills the chair or empties it. The free reminder template on this site sizes the reminder load from your own diary first.
The calendar is not the purchase
Every practice management suite has a calendar, and every scheduling product shows the same grid in its demo, so the calendar cannot be the reason to buy. What the front desk is short of is the list the calendar hides: every patient whose hygiene visit is due and who has no appointment. Dentist scheduling software that opens on that list gives the receptionist a job for the quiet hour; software that opens on the calendar gives them nothing until the phone rings. Ask, before anything else, to see the recall list sorted by how overdue each patient is.
The reminder and the confirmation record
Kheirkhah et al. 2016 measured a mean no-show rate of 18.8% across ten clinics and an average cost of $196 per missed appointment, and found a centralised phone system moved the rate only from 16.3% to 15.2% while reminder letters showed minimal impact. The Cochrane 2013 review found mobile text reminders raised attendance from about 67.8% to 78.6%, risk ratio 1.14. So the reminder that works is the text at the lead time you chose, with the reply recorded against the patient so the next reminder for a patient who did not come goes out earlier. Dental scheduling software that sends into silence and never reconciles the reply is a cost with no record behind it.
Dental online scheduling: fills the chair or empties it
Online dental scheduling lets a patient book at eleven at night, which is when many of them decide, and a practice that cannot take that booking loses it to one that can. The risk is not the booking; it is the patient who self-books a long procedure into a short slot, or books three weeks out and forgets. The fix is to offer online booking for the visit types the front desk defines, to take a card hold where the practice policy allows it, and to run the same reminder schedule on self-booked visits as on phoned ones. Acuity Scheduling publishes booking-page plans at $20 a month for one calendar and $34 for up to six; Recallvia Pro is $20 a month for the recall list, the reminders and the confirmation record on top of whatever diary the practice keeps.
Questions people ask about dental scheduling software
Is dental scheduling software the same as practice management software?
No. The suite holds charts, imaging, claims and the calendar. Scheduling software earns its place on the recall list and the reminder, and a good one stops there.
Should a dental practice offer online dental scheduling?
Yes, for the visit types the front desk defines, with the same reminder schedule as phoned bookings. The chair empties when self-booked patients are left unreminded, not when they book online.
How much does a no-show cost a dental practice?
Kheirkhah et al. 2016 measured $196 per missed visit in their clinics. Your figure is your own average visit value, which the free template on this site takes as an input and multiplies by the no-shows a week at your rate.
Does Recallvia replace dentist scheduling software?
No. It keeps the recall list, sends the reminders and records the confirmations from the diary you already run, and leaves the calendar where it is.
Sources
- Kheirkhah et al., Prevalence, predictors and economic consequences of no-shows, BMC Health Services Research 2016
- Gurol-Urganci et al., Mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2013
- Acuity Scheduling, pricing
- Dantas et al., No-shows in appointment scheduling, a systematic literature review, Health Policy 2018