Dental patient no-show: what to do the same day
Published
In short
When a new patient from your ads misses their first consultation, mark the no-show in your schedule the same day, send them one neutral text, and call once to offer a new time. This person reached out to your practice on their own, so one missed visit doesn't have to be the end of it. If they don't answer the text or the call, or they ask you not to contact them, you stop. This article is about new patients from ads, not your existing patients. Below you'll find a table of the three steps, a sample text, and the first sentence for the call.
Who this is for
This is for you if you own or manage a private dental practice, pay for ads, and have open chair time. We write about a person who came in through an ad, was booked for a first consultation, and didn't show up. We don't cover existing patients here. If you're looking this up as a patient, this article won't help you.
If your front desk already texts and calls no-shows the same day, use the table below as a checklist. If your schedule is booked for months, the new appointment for this person would land far out, and this routine won't do much for you.
We wrote this at Helpify. Helpify brings patients to dental practices and follows up so they make it to the chair. Who we are is on the About Helpify page.
Three steps the same day
One person at the front desk can do all three steps. The dentist doesn't need to be involved. Decide ahead of time who does them on each day of the week, including when someone is on vacation.
| Who | When | What exactly they do |
|---|---|---|
| The front desk team member who runs the schedule that day | When the patient didn't show up and didn't cancel | Step 1. Marks in the schedule that the consultation didn't take place and notes that the patient came from an ad. |
| The same person | Right after that entry, the same day | Step 2. Sends the patient one message offering a new time, without asking whether they came in. |
| The same person, or a second person at the front desk if the first one is busy | The same day, after the message, during business hours | Step 3. Calls once, says who's calling and why, offers two specific times, and writes down how the call went. |
The order is on purpose. A patient who read the message knows who's calling and what it's about. If they reply and book on their own, you don't need to call.
If the consultation was at the end of the day and the front desk has already gone home, do steps two and three first thing on the next business day. Don't let them wait for a weekly review.
Step one: mark the no-show
Mark in the schedule that the consultation didn't take place. Do it first, the same day. The entry tells your team that someone needs to reach out to this person. Without it, everyone at the front desk may assume someone else took care of it.
You need the same entry at the end of the month. If no-shows aren't marked, you don't know how many consultations from your ads actually took place. The number of booked appointments then looks better than what really happened. How a no-show changes the cost of getting a patient is covered in our article on dental patient acquisition cost.
Tell a no-show apart from a reschedule. A patient who called ahead and moved the appointment didn't miss anything. Record it as a reschedule, so they don't get a message that doesn't fit them.
When you make the entry, also note that the patient came from an ad, if the schedule doesn't show that yet. You'll need it for the monthly count described below.
Step two: one message offering a new time
The message should give the patient an easy way to a new appointment. Keep it short, with the patient's first name and your practice's name.
Don't ask whether the patient came to the consultation. The practice already knows from the schedule, and the question sounds like you're checking up on them. Don't write that the dentist waited or that the time was lost, either. The patient may have had a good reason, and after a sentence that sounds like blame, it's harder for them to write back.
A sample text:
Hi Emily, this is Sample Dental. We'd be glad to find you a new time for your consultation. Just reply to this message or call us at (555) 123-4567.
Send one message. More messages the same day add nothing and can put the patient off. If the patient replies, book them and send a confirmation of the new appointment. Then you can skip step three.
Before you send the first message like this, decide who at the practice reads patient replies and books them the same day. If your practice doesn't text patients yet, ask your attorney what you need to have in place first.
Step three: one call from the front desk
If the patient didn't reply, the front desk calls once, during business hours. In the first sentence, say who's calling and why. For example:
Hi Emily, this is Mike from Sample Dental. I'm calling to find you a new time for your consultation.
Then offer two specific times. Don't ask the patient when it suits them. For example: "I have Tuesday at 3:30 PM or Thursday at 9:00 AM. Which one works better for you?" Choosing between two times is easier than coming up with one. If neither works, ask what time of day is easiest for them and offer two more.
If the patient tells you why they didn't come in, listen and don't comment. Don't ask for the reason. Once they're booked, send a confirmation of the new appointment.
If the patient doesn't pick up, don't call a second time. After one message and one call with no answer, you stop. You also stop right away if the patient asks you not to contact them. In both cases, note on the patient's record that the follow-up is closed, and note the request not to contact them next to their phone number. If the patient gets in touch later, book them like any other new patient.
How to count no-shows
Once a month, count no-shows at first consultations for patients from ads as a separate group. Leave existing patients out of this count. If you want to compare, count new patients from other sources, such as referrals, as another group.
- From the schedule, list every first consultation with a patient from ads that was booked for that month.
- Count how many took place, how many patients rescheduled, and how many didn't show up.
- Divide the number of no-shows by the number of booked consultations.
- Count how many people booked a new appointment after a no-show, and how many of them came in.
Point four shows whether the three steps in this article change anything at your practice.
Count the same way every month. Decide once what counts as a no-show and what counts as a reschedule, and don't change it from month to month. If the definition changes, the numbers change with it, even when patients behave the same.
We won't say what result is good or typical. We don't know of solid data for private dental practices. Compare your practice with itself, month to month.
A fee for a missed visit
After a few no-shows, someone at the practice may suggest charging patients for visits they didn't cancel. That's a separate decision, and this article doesn't settle it. Whether and how you can charge for missed visits is a question for your attorney. You do the three steps whatever you decide.
How we do it
Helpify brings patients to dental practices and follows up so they make it to the chair. We run Facebook and Instagram ads with videos filmed at the practice, and we build a service page with a form. After every lead, the patient gets a confirmation and the front desk gets reminders to call and book. We remind patients about appointments, and after a no-show we help the front desk reschedule. The dashboard shows leads, booked appointments, patients who showed up, and ad spend.
You pay once for the campaign build: the service page, the ad videos, and front desk training. After that, you pay a flat monthly fee for campaign management, and it doesn't start until the day your ads go live. You pay your ad budget separately, straight to Meta. I'll show you the numbers along with a plan for your practice.
Helpify's fee doesn't depend on the size of the practice's ad budget.
Helpify is based in Poland. We work remotely and take on dental practices in Poland and the United States.
We describe the whole process on the Helpify System page. Book a free 30-minute call. It's online, with Maciej Odrobina, the founder of Helpify. Book a call.
Questions and answers
What should you do when a patient doesn't show up for an appointment?
Mark the no-show in the schedule the same day. Then send one neutral message offering a new time, and call once. If the patient doesn't answer or asks you not to contact them, close the follow-up.
Should you call a patient who didn't show up?
Yes, once, after the message and during business hours. Start by saying who's calling and why, then offer two specific times. Don't ask whether the patient came in, and don't press for the reason they missed the visit.
Do patients from ads miss appointments more often?
We don't know, because we don't know of solid data that compares them. You can check it at your own practice. Once a month, count no-shows at first consultations separately for patients from ads and for new patients from other sources, the same way every time.