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The appointment system is the heartbeat of the dental clinic. Every patient visit starts as an appointment, which then triggers the clinical record, the nursing tasks, the billing, and the follow-up sequence. Getting appointment management right ensures the clinic runs on time, patients receive their confirmation and reminder messages, and nothing gets missed.

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Before You Start

  • Each dentist or hygienist must have a Healthcare Practitioner record.
  • Each practitioner must have a Practitioner Schedule defining their available days and times.
  • Appointment Types must be created for each type of visit your clinic offers.
  • Dental chairs must be set up as Healthcare Service Units.

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Setting Up Appointment Types

Create an Appointment Type for each category of dental visit. This controls the appointment duration, the default billing item, and what the patient sees in their confirmation message.
  1. Go to Healthcare workspace → Consultation Setup card → Appointment Type → New
Recommended Dental Appointment Types:

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Setting Up Practitioner Schedules

Each dentist or hygienist needs a schedule that defines when they are available.
  1. Go to Healthcare workspace → Masters card → Practitioner Schedule → New
  2. Fill in the schedule name (e.g., “Dr Patel - Mon/Wed/Fri”, “Hygienist Tuesday Schedule”)
  3. Add time slots for each day of the week they are available
  4. Link the schedule to the Healthcare Practitioner record
This schedule is used by the appointment system to show available slots when booking.

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Booking an Appointment

  1. Go to Healthcare workspace → Consultation card → Patient Appointment → New
New Patient Appointment form showing patient name, appointment type, practitioner, date and time, duration, and chair assignment fields
  1. Complete the booking:
  1. Save the record.
On save, an appointment confirmation SMS is sent automatically to the patient’s mobile number. If the patient does not have a mobile number on their record, no SMS is sent. Add the mobile number before saving if it is missing.

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Checking In a Patient

When the patient arrives at the clinic:
  1. Open the Patient Appointment record
  2. Click the Check In button (or update the status to “Checked In”)
  3. The appointment status changes: Scheduled → Checked In
Patient Appointment record with status showing Checked In and the Check In button visible
After check-in, the dental nurse can seat the patient and begin pre-examination preparations (chair setup, updating medical history, recording vital signs).

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Appointment Status Flow

Appointments move from Scheduled to Open automatically when the dentist starts a Patient Encounter linked to the appointment. The appointment closes when the encounter is submitted.

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Appointment Reminders

Appointment reminders are sent automatically by the system without any manual action. Configure the reminder timing in Healthcare Settings. The system continuously checks for appointments within the reminder window (e.g., 2 hours ahead) and sends an SMS to each patient who has not already received one. Dental clinic recommendation:
  • For standard appointments: remind 2 hours before
  • For long or complex appointments (oral surgery, sedation): consider a day-before reminder in addition to the same-day reminder

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Managing the Day’s Schedule

To view all appointments for today:
  1. Go to Healthcare workspace → Consultation card → Patient Appointment
  2. Filter by today’s date
Or use the Appointment Calendar view to see the day’s schedule across all practitioners and chairs in a visual grid.
Dental appointment calendar showing chairs listed as columns with time slots, each filled with colour-coded appointments by type

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Handling Cancellations

When a patient cancels:
  1. Open the Patient Appointment record
  2. Click Cancel
  3. Select the reason (Patient Cancelled, Practitioner Unavailable, Rescheduled, etc.)
  4. The appointment slot becomes available for another patient
For patients who did not attend without cancelling, update the status to No Show and note the outcome. Repeated no-shows can be flagged in the patient’s notes.

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Recall Scheduling

Dental patients typically need to be recalled for check-ups every 6 or 12 months. Book the recall appointment at the end of each visit rather than relying on the patient to call back. When finishing an appointment:
  1. Before the patient leaves, open a new appointment record
  2. Select “Recall / Annual Check-up” as the appointment type
  3. Set the date 6 or 12 months ahead
  4. Save the appointment - the patient will receive a reminder when the appointment approaches

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Field Guide: Patient Appointment

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Best Practices

  • Always book the next appointment before the patient leaves the clinic - patients who leave without a booked appointment are significantly less likely to return for their follow-up treatment
  • For new patients, add an extra 10-15 minutes to the appointment template duration to allow time for history-taking and general discussion
  • Record the appointment type accurately - the billing item links to the appointment type, so the wrong type means the wrong fee is pre-populated on the invoice
  • For oral surgery and sedation appointments, add notes about nil-by-mouth requirements and arrange a responsible escort in the Notes field so the front desk can communicate this at confirmation
  • Review the no-show list weekly and contact patients who missed their appointment - particularly those who were mid-treatment, as leaving a temporary crown, unfinished root canal, or ongoing extraction socket unattended causes harm

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Troubleshooting

No available slots showing for a practitioner Check that the Healthcare Practitioner has a Practitioner Schedule linked, that the schedule includes the day being booked, and that the time slot has not already been filled. Confirmation SMS was not sent Check that the patient’s mobile number is recorded on the Patient record. Also check in Healthcare Settings that Appointment Confirmation is turned ON and the confirmation message text is filled in. The appointment is showing as Open but the dentist has finished The dentist has not yet submitted the Patient Encounter. Ask the dentist to open the encounter and click Submit.