How to run dental recalls and fill short-notice gaps

To run dental recalls and fill short-notice gaps, treat them as two lists that are worked in writing every day: the patients your software reminded who did not book, and the patients who have said they could come at short notice. The software sends the first reminder, and the work is everything after it. That means a second and third message offering named slots, a cancelled hour offered to whoever is waiting, and a short list of the people who need a phone call. An AI worker can do the written part. The recall interval, and anything a patient says about pain, stay with your clinical team.

What starts a recall or a refill?

Two things start it. The first is a date. The dentist sets each patient's recall interval at the check-up, and NICE's guideline recommends between three months and two years for an adult, and between three months and a year for a patient under 18. When the date comes round, the practice software sends a reminder. The second is a cancellation: a patient emails or rings to say they cannot come, and a slot opens.

Who does what today, from the reminder to the refilled slot?

1. The reminder goes out. The practice software does this unaided.

2. Somebody looks at who did not book. A receptionist runs the overdue recall report when the desk is quiet; examination and hygiene recalls are often separate lists. This is the step that slips when the phone and the desk come first.

3. The second approach. A call or a message to each patient on the report, one at a time, and a note of who was tried.

4. The booking. Reception puts the patient in the right clinician's book for the right length of appointment.

5. A cancellation arrives. Reception frees the slot.

6. The refill. Somebody remembers who asked for an earlier appointment and rings round. If nobody has time, the surgery sits empty.

7. The tidy-up. Patients who have not answered after several attempts are marked, so the practice can decide what to do about them.

How do you improve your recall rate?

Start with five changes at the desk this week.

• Make the short-notice list a real list. At every booking, ask whether the patient could come at a day's notice, and record which days and which clinician in the software, where the list can be worked.

• Offer named slots. A message that names the times, such as "Tuesday at 9.40 or Thursday at 2.15 with your usual dentist", is easier to answer than "Please call us to book". Offer each slot to a few patients at a time, and say it is held until a named day.

• Write the follow-up messages once. Agree the second and third message and the gap between them, so nobody composes one from scratch.

• Set the stopping rule. Decide how many attempts a patient gets before a person rings, and what happens after that.

• Rule on the gap offer. When a slot is offered to several patients at once, say in the message that it goes to the first to reply.

The follow-up and the gap list in an AI worker's hands

An AI worker works to a written job, with a named person at the practice who checks its work and a review each month. In this job it can take steps two, three, six and seven in writing, and step four where your rules allow. It builds the list of patients whose reminder went unanswered, emails each a choice of named slots in wording you have approved, and follows up at the intervals you set. When a cancellation frees a slot it offers it to the patients on the short-notice list whose days and clinician match, books the first to accept by your rules, and tells the rest the slot has gone. Each morning it gives reception a short list: who has had every message and still needs a call, and which gaps are still open. The role is specified on diary and scheduling, and the other jobs around the chair are on our page for dental practices.

What stays with the dentist and reception

• The recall interval. It is a clinical decision for the dentist. The agent works from the date in the record and never changes it.

• Any message that mentions a symptom. A patient who replies about pain, swelling, bleeding or an injury is not offered a routine slot. The message goes to your team as it was written, because judging its urgency is not a job for an AI worker.

• Phone calls. The agent works in writing. Patients who never answer email, or who have asked not to be emailed, stay on reception's call list.

• Anything about money or a complaint. A late cancellation where your policy charges a fee, a disputed balance or an unhappy patient goes to the practice manager.

• Taking a patient off recall. The agent lists who has stopped answering. The practice decides what happens next.

Reports and rules to pull together first

• The overdue recall report from your software, and how many patients are on it today. That number is what you will measure against.

• Last month's cancelled appointments, and how many were refilled.

• Your booking rules: which appointment types may be offered, how long each is, which clinician sees which patients, and who books for a child.

• The approved wording for each message, and your published out-of-hours instructions.

• The name of the person who gets the morning list.

Why this list is the one that limits a growing practice is argued in our article on scaling a dental practice without hiring more staff.

The recall follow-up and the gap list would be an AI worker's job in a dental practice, set up to your booking rules and checked by your own team, and the recall interval would stay a dentist's decision. Bring us your overdue recall report and talk to our agent.