Sometimes getting patients back into the office for their Recall appointment can be like pulling teeth, but with Open Dental, once you’ve got things set up, it’s pain-free to manage Recall.

Initial Setup

Before you start scheduling Recall appointments in Open Dental, there’s a bit of setup you’ll want to do to use the tools most efficiently.

Set up Recall Types

Standard Recall Types (like exams, prophys and x-rays) are already set up in Open Dental and generally don’t need to be edited, but if you have a specialty practice, custom Recall Types, or need to make any edits, you can do that in Setup, Recall, Recall Types.

Double-click an existing Recall Type to make any changes (like updating the time pattern or adding additional triggers) or click Add to create a new custom Recall Type.

Once any changes are made, click Synch to update the Recall settings of any patients to match the updated Recall Type. This won’t affect patients whose Recall has manual edits, like a date override. If you don’t synch, changes will only affect patients who have Recall triggers completed after the changes were made.

For more information, watch our webinar: Recall Types and Custom Recalls

Tech Tip: Have a patient with a unique Recall Interval? Recall Interval can also be customized per individual patient! From the Family Module, double-click the Recall Grid, and double-click a Recall Type to edit the patient’s Recall details, including the Interval, Due Date, and more.

Set up Schedule

To easily schedule Recall appointments using the dedicated buttons from the Recall List and Appointments Module, provider schedules must be set up, otherwise Open Dental will be unable to know when openings are available. Go to Setup, Schedules to input your providers’ schedules. We usually recommend putting in a schedule for at least a year, but depending on how far out your schedule fills up, your may need to put in your schedule farther in advance.

If you need to view a provider’s schedule, click the Prov tab from the Appointments Module, double-click a provider to quickly open the Edit Day window if you need to edit a schedule.

Recall Setup

The last step in the process is setting up the conditions for the Recall List and what you’d like Recall messages to say. For this, go to Setup, Appointments, Recall.

From here, you can determine which Recall Types show up in the Recall List by default and when. If your office is signed up for Web Sched Recall, this will also determine when patients get automated reminders via text and/or email with a link to schedule their appointment. If you’re not signed up for Web Sched Recall, you can also send automated reminders, without a link, reminding patients to contact your office to schedule their next Recall. Find out more on our web manual.

Making Recall Appointments

If you’ve got a patient who is ready to schedule their Recall appointment before they leave the office, that’s great! Set their current appointment complete then click the Make Recall button in the Appointments Module.

Open Dental will automatically create the Recall appointment on the Pinboard with all the procedures the patient is due for at their next appointment (e.g., exam, prophy, x-rays, etc.), move the calendar to the first available date after the patient’s Recall is due and search for other available openings with the patient’s preferred provider (if the patient is assigned a secondary provider this is used, otherwise, the primary provider is used in the search).

Tech Tip: Using the Make Recall button skips the need to make the appointment manually (and possibly miss procedures!) and there’s no need to use the 3/4/6 buttons to move the calendar out.

If the patient isn’t ready to schedule their Recall appointment when they leave the office, they’ll end up on the Recall List, so you can follow up with them at a later date and make sure they get back in for their next appointment. From the Appointments Module, click the Lists button in the toolbar and click Recall to launch the Recall List.

The Recall List displays patients Recall Due Date, Recall Type, Contact information, and more. From here, you can easily generate postcard, mailing labels, lists, or mark patients as contacted if you reached them another way.

If you do reach a patient, it’s also simple to create their appointment by using the Sched Patient button. Like the Make Recall button, this will automatically create the Recall appointment on the Pinboard with all the procedures the patient is due for at their next appointment (e.g. exam, prophy, x-rays, etc.), move the calendar to the first available date after the patient’s Recall is due and search for other available openings with the patient’s preferred provider.

Tech Tip: If you contact a patient and they want to make Recall appointments for the whole family, use the Sched Family button to create appointments on the Pinboard for all family members on the Recall List. Open Dental will also search for openings after the last family members’ Due Date, so the family doesn’t come in too early.

If you want to automate the Recall process further, check out our Web Sched Recall eService where you can set up automated reminders to patients on the Recall List with a unique scheduling link, so they can easily schedule their Recall appointments online.

You can also watch our Quick Look video on YouTube for more information on this feature.

Setting up Recall is an important step in making sure your practice runs smoothly, so if you ever have any questions, make sure to reach out to our knowledgeable Support Team. We’re here to help!