Recalls allow you to remind patients that they are due for an appointment - supporting their oral health while reducing your white space and improving patient retention.
Check the FAQs below and explore our dedicated help section for more details on recalls, automation, strategy and effectiveness.
An introduction to recalls
What are recalls in Dentally?
What are recalls in Dentally?
The term 'recall' can refer a routine appointment itself, but in most instances in Dentally, a recall is the reminder sent to a patient alerting them that they are due for a routine Exam/Scale & Polish appointment.
Recalls in Dentally can be sent via automation, or they can be sent manually. They will remind the patient that they are due and explain how they can book. Patients can be sent recalls up to and past their due date.
Recalls are an important way to encourage regular appointments, which benefits your patients' oral health while ensuring you have consistent revenue.
How do recalls work in Dentally?
How do recalls work in Dentally?
When a patient is due for a recall Exam/Scale & Polish appointment (according to their last appointment, recall interval, due date and your recall settings), a recall marker will be generated, indicating in your system that they are due. Every patient who is due for a recall can be found in the 'Recalls' report - here you can also see the status of the recall.
Once they have a recall marker, they can then be sent recalls reminding them about their appointment. This can happen in a number of ways, including (but not limited to):
A patient being picked up in an automated recall workflow and be sent an automatically generated correspondence based on where they are in the workflow.
Identifying a list of patients who are due using the 'Recalls' report and send a bulk correspondence.
Going to the 'Recalls' tab in a patient's record and send an individual correspondence.
All recalls sent in any format are recorded in the recipient's patient record.
We recommend using automated recall workflows wherever possible - these ensure you can maintain an effective recall strategy while minimising the manual work needed, so you can focus on other tasks.
What is a recall workflow?
What is a recall workflow?
Recall workflows are a series of automated steps which will send reminders to patients at specific times, based on your chosen template/settings and on the patient's recall preferences. You can have as many workflows as you like for different locations, recall types, payment plans and practitioners.
A patient enters the workflow when they have an upcoming recall due date, and they meet the criteria, and the patient leaves the workflow if their recall is marked as 'Booked' or 'Completed'.
These are different from manual recalls, where you can send one-off recall reminders to patients.
What is the difference between manual and automated recalls?
What is the difference between manual and automated recalls?
Automated recalls send as part of a workflow, with chosen criteria and a number of stages - once set up, the workflow will check for any patient who is marked as due for a recall and who meets the requirements at any stage. If they meet the criteria, a recall correspondence will automatically be generated and sent to them, based on your chosen template and format (eg. a workflow might define that an email will be sent eight weeks before the due date for all hygiene patients on a particular payment plan, and an SMS will be sent two weeks later). This will continue for each stage of the workflow, contacting patients whenever needed according to your setup. The automation will stop for a patient if that patient books a recall appointment, or if the workflow ends.
This is useful as a "set-and-forget" approach, and is our recommended best practice for an efficient recall strategy. You can have as many workflows as you like allowing you to set up what you need and then leave it running, freeing up your time so you can focus on other tasks.
Manual recalls can be sent on an ad hoc basis (eg. via the 'Recalls' report, or via the 'Recalls' tab in the patient record). This is useful when you want to send off a one-off recall and wish to choose when it sends (eg. if you have last-minute white space and you wish to chase outstanding patients).
Manual recalls and automated recalls can both send to a patient simultaneously - one does not override the other, and if you send both types, the patient will receive both. Performance for both recall methods can be viewed in the 'Recall Effectiveness' report.
Setting up your recalls
How do I enable recalls for my practice?
How do I enable recalls for my practice?
To set up recalls:
Enable them in 'Settings' > 'Practice' > 'Recalls'.
Select how many weeks before an appointment is due that a patient should be picked up for a recall - this is known as the recall lead time.
Ensure your patients have appropriate recall due dates and other recall info (such as preferred recall method).
Make sure the appointment reasons you use for dental and hygiene routine appointments are linked to recalls.
Once you are set up for recalls, patients will start getting recall markers in your system, and you can then send manual recalls and set up automated workflows.
How do I edit a patient's recall due date or interval?
How do I edit a patient's recall due date or interval?
Go to the 'Details' tab in the patient record. Here you can adjust the preferred recall method, intervals and due dates. Read more here about how to set recall preferences, as well as what happens if you edit the due date while the patient is already in an automated recall workflow.
Can I pause and restart automated recall workflows?
Can I pause and restart automated recall workflows?
Yes, you can temporarily pause all your recalls in your practice settings. When you re-enable recalls, we will catch up and start sending recall reminders again for any patients now due or overdue. There may be a backlog of recalls to get through if you re-enable recalls.
Can I customise which appointment reasons trigger a recall?
Can I customise which appointment reasons trigger a recall?
Yes, in 'Settings' > 'Diary' > 'Appointment reasons', you can specify which appointments will trigger a recall. This allows you to ensure reminders are not missed and are not sent unnecessarily.
How do payment plans/fee schedules impact recalls?
How do payment plans/fee schedules impact recalls?
One of the ways a patient's recall interval can be automatically updated is via their payment plan (also known as a fee schedule). A payment plan will have a default recall interval attached when it is set up.
Any patient added to that plan will have that default interval applied automatically. This can be overridden by changing the patient's recall preferences in the patient record. These individual preferences will override any automatic changes to interval date via the payment plan.
How and when recalls send
How does Dentally decide which patients are picked up for automated recalls?
How does Dentally decide which patients are picked up for automated recalls?
Every week, we check for patients who are due (or overdue) based on their recall interval and due date. To be picked up, a patient must:
Have a recall due date and interval set.
Have attended an appointment within the last 2 years.
Not have an appointment booked in the future, which is of the same appointment type.
If a patient meets those criteria, a recall marker will be triggered, and they will be eligible for automated or manual recalls.
When is a recall marker generated?
When is a recall marker generated?
You can set your recall lead time in your recall settings. Here you can choose the number of weeks in advance of a patient's due date that their recall marker would be generated - so if you set it to '4 weeks in advance', the patient's recall marker will be generated 4 weeks before their due date. If you have any automated workflows set up, they will then enter these workflows as applicable.
Why wasn't my patient contacted via their preferred recall method?
Why wasn't my patient contacted via their preferred recall method?
You can set a patient's preferred recall method in their patient record. When you set up an automated workflow, you can choose whether that workflow will use the patient's preferred method. If you choose 'No', whatever method you choose will override the patient's preference.
If you edit the patient's preferred method after a recall marker was already generated for them, this will also cause them not to receive the reminder in their preferred method.
Can a patient be in more than one recall workflow at a time?
Can a patient be in more than one recall workflow at a time?
Yes, if a patient is due for both dentist and hygiene recalls and the due dates are far apart, they may be in two separate workflows at the same time. We combine their recalls into a single reminder if the due dates are close together (within 1 calendar week of each other). Find out more about how patients are picked up for recalls here.
Will an unresponsive patient with a past due date eventually stop being picked up for recalls?
Will an unresponsive patient with a past due date eventually stop being picked up for recalls?
A patient will stop generating recall markers if they haven't attended in 2+ years. At this point, they will still have a due date/interval in their record, but will no longer have a recall marker or be added to recall workflows. They will not be picked up by any future workflows (they may continue through an existing workflow if they are already in one). If they book and attend an appointment, they will be added back into the recall system as normal.
Why hasn't my patient received a recall when they should have?
Why hasn't my patient received a recall when they should have?
If you think a patient should have received a recall reminder via automation, and they haven't, we recommend checking the following:
Does the patient have a recall interval and due date? These are essential for them to be picked up for recalls.
Is the patient active? They cannot receive recalls if they have been archived or deleted.
Does the patient have appointment booking prevented? 'Prevent appointment booking' must not be turned on for them.
Do they already have an appointment booked, and is the appointment of the same type as their recall? If the appointment type triggers a recall, their status will be changed to 'Booked' and they'll no longer receive recalls.
ROI only 🇮🇪 - Does the patient have marketing consent enabled? This is essential for Irish practices.
Is the site that this patient belongs to active? If the patient is associated to an inactive site, they won't be able to receive recalls.
Do you have at least one active automated recall workflow? You must have at least one active workflow which matches the patient's site, recall type, practitioner and payment plan (if applicable).
Does the patient's due date fall within the first or last stages of at least one workflow?
What is the patient's recall status? Patients marked as 'Booked', 'Completed' or 'Skipped' will not receive reminders for that recall.
Was the recall marker created manually? If it was, and the patient already had an existing appointment which satisfied the recall, the status will still show as 'Unbooked' because manual recall markers don't check existing appointments. In this instance, the status of the recall would only update if you book a new appointment after it was generated.
If any of these criteria aren't met, the patient won't receive a recall through automation. Find out more about what to do when recalls aren't sending as expected here.
Why has my patient received a recall when they shouldn't have?
Why has my patient received a recall when they shouldn't have?
If a patient has received a recall reminder but you think they shouldn't have received one because they already have an appointment booked, we recommend checking the following:
Check the patient's 'Recalls' tab - if someone creates a recall marker manually, this will not check whether any existing appointments satisfy it, and so a patient may still enter a recall workflow even though an existing appointment exists.
What recall type is the patient marked as? If they have an upcoming appointment booked, but the appointment is not of the same type, or if it isn't set to trigger recalls, any recall marker the patient has won't change to 'Booked' and they'll continue receiving reminders even though they are booked in.
If this does not fix the issue, you can mark the recall as skipped - this will stop the patient receiving further reminders until their next due date.
Planning effective recall strategy
What is a recall strategy?
What is a recall strategy?
A recall strategy is a plan for how you recall your patients - what you are sending, when/how often and why.
Ensuring you have a solid recall strategy will help your patients to remember they are due, positively benefitting their oral health, while ensuring your calendar is full and your patients keep coming back.
You can assess the effectiveness of your recall strategy using the 'Recall Effectiveness' report. Explore our guides or get in touch with our Support team to understand the best practice for an effective recall strategy.
What is the 'Recall Effectiveness' report?
What is the 'Recall Effectiveness' report?
The 'Recall Effectiveness' report is a dashboard available in Dentally where you can monitor how well your recalls and converting to confirmed appointments.
You can:
See how many of your recalls are converting on a monthly basis so you can spot trends.
Set goals and monitor where you're achieving them.
Use filters to drill down into specific types and compare performance.
Identify where you can make improvements, and the steps needed to make your workflows more effective.
How do I measure my recall pre-booking rate?
How do I measure my recall pre-booking rate?
Your pre-booking rate tells you what percentage of patients book their next appointment before leaving after their last appointment. To measure your recall pre-booking rate, open the 'Recall Effectiveness' report. You can identify the total number of pre-bookings, and divide it by the total number of recalls - multiply this number by 100 to get a percentage rate.
Other recall FAQs
What is the difference between between recall markers, recall flags and recall status?
What is the difference between between recall markers, recall flags and recall status?
Recall markers: The indicator in a patient's record that a patient is due for an appointment. This marker is automatically generated when their due date is within your chosen recall lead time. They will then show in the 'Recalls' report and can enter workflows.
Recall status: This indicates what stage the patient's recall is at. A recall can be 'Unbooked', 'Pre-booked', 'Booked', 'Completed', 'Skipped' or 'Missed'. This can be seen in the patient record, as well as in the 'Recall Effectiveness' report. Find out more about recall status here.
Recall flags: These appear alongside a patient's name in the 'Recalls' report, if that patient's recall is being picked up by a workflow. There are four different flags which indicate the status of that patient's recall (eg. due to start, already started, exhausted or completed). If you cannot see any flags in the 'Recalls' report, it means you don't have any workflows set up.
How do I stop a patient from receiving recall reminders?
How do I stop a patient from receiving recall reminders?
You can skip or delete the recall marker for that patient in the 'Recalls' report (you can also delete it using the bin icon in the patient record). Skipping and deleting will both stop the patient being contacted - the difference is whether the recall marker stays.
If you skip, the recall marker will remain in their record and they won't be picked up again in any workflow until their due date passes (at which point they might be picked up by a workflow in future), whereas if you delete, the recall marker will disappear and they'll still show as due and will be picked up again the next time they meet the criteria for a workflow.
To remove someone from future recalls completely, so that they will not be picked up for future recalls at all, simply remove their recall date/interval (this won't stop them progressing through any recall workflow they are already in).
Why is my patient showing as 'Unbooked' even after they've booked an appointment?
Why is my patient showing as 'Unbooked' even after they've booked an appointment?
This may happen if the appointment type they have booked is not set to trigger a recall in your settings. A recall will only be recognised as booked if you have set up your appointment reasons correctly, and the correct appointment type has been booked.
This may also occur if the patient has an appointment booked, and then a new recall marker is manually created - in this instance, existing appointments will not be checked to see if they satisfy the recall, so the recall status wouldn't update.
What happens if I edit a patient's recall due date when they already have a recall marker?
What happens if I edit a patient's recall due date when they already have a recall marker?
If the patient has a recall marker but has not yet been picked up by a recall workflow, and then you edit the due date, the recall marker will be updated to reflect the new date (it won't generate a new/replacement recall marker).
If the patient has a marker and is already part of a workflow, and then you edit the due date, that workflow will continue based on the previous due date, until the workflow is complete or the patient books a relevant appointment. Marking the recall as 'Skipped' will take the patient out of that workflow, meaning they can move into a new workflow based on the new due date you have set.