The list everyone felt guilty about

Figures in this story are illustrative while we finalise reporting with the practice. The workflows described are real. Every dental practice has a recall report, and Providence Dental Partners had a very good one. It was accurate, it updated nightly, and it told them precisely which patients were overdue for hygiene. What it could not do was ring any of them.

That gap is where the guilt lives in a dental practice. The list is right there, it grows faster than anyone can work it, and calling through it always loses to whatever is happening at the desk right now. Meanwhile three locations shared one number, so calls were routed by whoever happened to pick up, and emergencies suffered worst of all - somebody in genuine pain being offered the next routine opening in three weeks, while the slots held back for exactly that situation sat empty.

The first thing we changed was the recall list, because it was the largest piece of unclaimed revenue and the easiest to prove. Patients due or overdue are now called from their own Dentrix report, offered a slot with the hygienist they usually see, and booked straight back in. Nobody has to remember, and nobody has to feel bad about it on a Friday afternoon.

The second was triage. Swelling, trauma and uncontrolled pain are now recognised as urgent and routed into held emergency capacity or escalated to a clinician - never offered a routine appointment weeks out. Location, provider and appointment type rules are applied on the call, so a patient reaches the right site with the right clinician without anybody translating. Coverage details are captured while they are still on the phone rather than chased on the morning of the visit.

Their numbers are on the customer story, and the mechanics of the write-back are on the Dentrix integration page.

4 sites

One number, routed to the right practice automatically

Every recall

Worked from the list rather than in a spare half hour

0

Patients left on hold between locations

The fastest way to judge any of this is to be on the other end of a call. The demo will ring your phone in under a minute, or you can book fifteen minutes and we will run it against your own call flows. Other practices describe what changed for them, and patients describe the same calls from their side.