Dental Appointment Reminders: Goodbye to No-Shows [2025]

Isn’t it disappointing when patients don't show up for their dentist appointments?

For dental offices, no-shows can be a major problem, disrupting your schedule and affecting your bottom line. So how can you combat the problem of no-shows?

Most offices employ a simple concept to help: dentist appointment reminders. After all, we’re all busy. Reminders are a powerful tool that can help you stay in touch with your patients and ensure they never forget an appointment again.

By sending automated reminders via text or email, you can keep your patients informed and engaged, while reducing the likelihood of no-shows. Here we'll explore the benefits of dental appointment reminders, particularly via SMS. We’ll also discuss how reminders can help you improve patient satisfaction, streamline your operations, and boost your practice's revenue.

So, say goodbye to no-shows and hello to a more efficient, productive practice with dental appointment reminders!

The Impact of Missed Appointments on Dental Practices

Let’s say you own or work for a busy dental practice.

You’re booked out for weeks or months ahead of time. Scheduling is tricky—you need to figure out what works for the patients as well as the providers. You need to also keep some time slots open for emergency visits. Plus you need to be flexible when people reschedule.

And there are always people that don’t show up.

Patient no-show rates in the healthcare industry can reach as high as 80%. And this costs the industry around $150 billion per year.

Not to mention the time that could be spent on more productive things. One health clinic reported that the amount of missed appointments during a single year amounted to 1,300 clinic hours.

Dental offices are not exempt. One article points out how a single lost appointment per day can cost a dental practice anywhere from $20,000–$50,000 per year. This can obviously add up quickly, especially if you have multiple no-shows in a day or week.

A missed appointment means you’re not getting to offer your services. It means your patient isn’t getting the care that they were hoping to get and that they will have to reschedule. It means that other patients who could have filled their slot have to wait.

The bottom line is that missed appointments hurt your bottom line.

So what can be done? One simple answer: reminders.

Why Use Dental Appointment Reminders for Patients?

Appointment reminders can be incredibly beneficial for patients.

One study of a hospital found, “Non-attendance rates were 38% lower in patients who received an SMS reminder than in patients who did not receive a reminder.”

By receiving reminders via text or email, patients are more likely to remember their appointments and show up on time.

A patient actually showing up means that they’re getting the healthcare they signed up for. It means they won’t have to go through the hassle of rescheduling. Additionally, appointment reminders can help patients know how to plan their schedule.

Furthermore, appointment reminders can also help patients stay engaged with your practice. By sending regular communication from your office, you can help keep your practice top of mind. This not only means that your patient will be more likely to attend their scheduled appointment, it can also lead to increased loyalty and better patient retention in the long run.

Ultimately, healthcare practices such as dental offices exist to serve patients. The patient can’t be served if they don’t show up. Appointment reminders can help improve the patient experience and lead to better outcomes for both your patients and your dental practice.

Benefits of Using Dental Appointment Reminders for Your Office

In addition to benefiting the patient, appointment reminders help benefit the efficiency and profitability of your office.

As mentioned, missed appointments mean missed revenue. Missed revenue means missed profit. And missed profit means that your practice isn’t doing as well as it could be doing.

But it’s not just about the money. It’s also about making the most productive use of your time and resources. It’s not efficient for your office to be spending large chunks of time dealing with no-shows—following up with them, rescheduling, collecting fees (if you charge a no-show fee). They could be spending this time on other things, like finding new patients, giving good customer service to current patients, or administrative tasks that need to be done.

Since appointment reminders mean that more people will show up to their appointments, those reminders can help give your office a boost of productivity and profitability.

Dentist Appointment Reminders via SMS vs. Email

It’s pretty well accepted that dentist appointment reminders are a helpful thing.

But what’s actually the best way to remind people?

SMS or Email or Something Else?

The main types of appointment reminders you can provide are:

• Phone calls
• Emails
• Physical mailings
• SMS

While all of these have the potential to be effective, one report claimed that only 52% of all phone calls made to mobile phones are answered. Email is well known to have a low open rate (averaging around 23% for healthcare emails).

And it doesn’t take too much convincing to realize that snail mail won’t be the most effective option!

SMS, on the other hand, is much more widely read, with a 55% read rate and a 100% “view rate.”

So while your best option is probably to include a combination of reminder methods, if you have to choose one, choose SMS.

(Mobile Text Alerts is an SMS platform that allows you to send dentist appointment reminders and engage with your patients.)

The Best Options: Email and SMS

Here’s a comparison of some of the pros and cons of using email vs. SMS and dental appointment reminders…

Email Pros

Email has more flexibility with formatting and branding. Unlike with SMS, you can format emails in almost limitless ways—which means, you can keep your business branding, and create aesthetically pleasing graphics or elements in the email to make it more attractive.

Email also allows you more freedom with how much content you can actually include in the message itself. There’s essentially no limit on how much content is allowed—which means, there’s essentially no limit to how much information you can provide in your dental appointment reminder.

Email also less intrusive than SMS. People expect to receive all kinds of emails in their email inbox, but some people may not want to receive text messages from brands—which means you can send dental appointment reminders without being too concerned that you’re annoying your patients.

Plus, email is very inexpensive... It costs next to nothing (or somethings actually nothing!) to send out emails.

Email Cons

As mentioned above, with emails, the vast majority of people who receive your email may not even open it at all. They’ll either just ignore it in their inbox, or the email will end up in the Spam folder or Promotions tab (making it significantly less likely to be read).

And if people aren’t going to *see *the appointment reminder, it of course isn’t going to be very effective.

Even if people don't end up ignoring the email, they aren’t always constantly checking their emails—some people may not check it for days. So if there are any urgent notices (such as a time-sensitive dental appointment reminder!), it may take a while for the recipient to finally see them.

SMS Pros

Sending an SMS comes with a very strong likelihood of your recipient actually seeing that message.

After all, you probably check most of your text messages—or you at least see them—right?

And what good, after all, are the pros of emails (better formatting, better flexibility for including more content) if people aren’t actually seeing your content?

Text messages are also a more immediate way to notify people about their dental appointment reminders, because a lot of people check their text messages a lot more frequently than their emails.

SMS Cons

While SMS is one of the most effective ways to get out dental appointment reminders, there are a few cons.

SMS are typically meant to be brief and succinct, so that can be a limiting factor, along with the lack of formatting capabilities.

SMS are generally considered more personal than emails too, which can be off-putting to some recipients who want to reserve SMS for personal conversations.

Lastly, SMS generally are more expensive than emails, so that’s a factor to consider as well.

How Do SMS Reminders Work?

Through the SMS platform, you can manage a database of your patients online. You can then schedule and send appointment reminders in a few different ways:

• Manually scheduling messages via the online platform or mobile app

• Integrating messages with your scheduling software via the coding-free integration site Zapier

• Integrating messages with your scheduling software via programmable API

What About HIPAA?

You do have to keep in mind that text messages aren’t encrypted. So in order to be HIPAA-compliant, you’ll need to either:

• Ask for consent from your patients to send them unencrypted messages with PHI

• OR keep your messages generic, without any reference to PHI—this is especially possible if you have a secure, encrypted patient portal; you can simply use your text messages to direct people to the patient portal

Best Practices for Dental Appointment Reminders

To ensure the success of appointment reminders (particularly for SMS), there are several best practices that dental practices should follow.

1. Get Permission

Getting permission is especially important if you’re sending content that includes PHI. But even if you’re not, you should make sure you get consent.

Generally speaking, people don’t like to receive unsolicited messages. If they never willingly provided you with their phone number, they may be suspicious when they see a text come in.

2. Clearly Identify Yourself

Because of mobile carrier guidelines, we would recommend including the name or abbreviation for your practice in every text message you send.

Mobile carriers are pretty strict about not allowing messages they deem as spam to be delivered to recipients. If you clearly identify yourself, you’ll not only ensure that your patient knows who’s sending the message, you’ll also make it less likely for carriers to prevent the message from being delivered.

3. Include the Patient’s Name

Personalization is commonly accepted as an important communication strategy. So when possible, try to include your patient’s name within your reminder texts. Doing this just adds a nice touch.

SMS software will allow you to insert the patient’s name without actually having to individually type it in each time.

4. Include the Date and Time

This should go without saying, but when setting up your reminders, remember to include the date and time of the patient’s appointment.

Having this information readily available on hand will make it much easier for your patients to remember to keep their appointments.

5. Keep It Brief

Your SMS reminders in particular should generally be to-the-point. SMS as a communication avenue is intended for short and concise messages.

You can be informal if it’s consistent for your brand, but overall, opt for clarity rather than flowery language.

6. Include Opt-Out Instructions

If patients for one reason or another no longer want to receive your reminders (which isn’t likely), make sure they know how they can opt out.

This is especially important for SMS. Mobile carriers will be less likely to filter out your SMS as spam if you include opt-out instructions for every message.

7. Send More Than 1 Reminder

Although the sweet spot of how many reminders to send has yet to be discovered, one study found that sending 2 reminders for a health appointment as opposed to 1 saw better results.

We’d recommend you try sending 3 reminders:

• 1 week before the appointment
• 1 day before the appointment
• The morning of the appointment

You may find that your patients prefer just 2 reminders. Although we wouldn’t recommend more than 3 reminders, you may also find that more than 3 works best for your patients.

Dentist Appointment Reminder Examples & Templates

For dentist appointment reminders, you could divide examples and templates into categories based on different patient needs, types of reminders, and timing.

Here are some examples of categories and templates you could think about using…

1. Initial Appointment Confirmation

Templates for confirming an appointment shortly after scheduling.

SMS 1:

“

Hi [Patient Name]! This is [Practice Name]. Your dental appointment is scheduled for [Date] at [Time]. Please reply ‘C’ to confirm or ‘R’ to reschedule. See you soon!

Email 1:

Subject: Your Appointment with [Practice Name] is Confirmed!

Body: "Hello [Patient Name], we're excited to see you on [Date] at [Time]. Please arrive 10 minutes early to complete any necessary forms. Reply to this email if you have any questions. Thank you!”

SMS 2:

“

Hey [Patient Name]! Thanks for choosing [Practice Name]. Your appointment is set for [Date] at [Time]. Got questions? Just reply to this message. We’re excited to see you!

Email 2:

Subject: Your Dental Appointment Confirmation 📅

Body: "Hello [Patient Name], we’re happy to confirm your appointment at [Practice Name] on [Date] at [Time]. Our team is here to help with any questions you may have ahead of time. Simply reply to this email or call us at [Phone Number]."

2. Pre-Appointment Instructions

Templates for sending instructions for the day of the appointment or prep guidelines.

SMS 1:

“

Hi [Patient Name], a reminder to avoid eating or drinking 30 minutes before your appointment with [Practice Name] tomorrow at [Time]. Reply if you have questions!

Email 1:

Subject: Prepare for Your Appointment with [Practice Name]

Body: "Dear [Patient Name], just a few quick reminders for your visit on [Date] at [Time]. Please remember to bring [any necessary documents or forms], and avoid consuming food or beverages for 30 minutes prior to your cleaning. We look forward to seeing you!"

SMS 2:

“

Hi [Patient Name], a quick reminder to arrive 10 minutes early for your [Date] appointment at [Practice Name]. Please bring your ID and insurance card. We’re here if you need us!

Email 2:

Subject: Prepare for Your Upcoming Appointment!

Body: "Hi [Patient Name], a few quick tips to ensure a smooth visit: arrive 10 minutes early, bring any required ID or insurance info, and avoid eating or drinking 30 minutes before your cleaning. We look forward to seeing you!"

3. Appointment Reminder (1-2 Days Prior)

Templates for reminding patients of their upcoming appointment a day or two before.

SMS 1:

“

Hi [Patient Name]! This is [Practice Name] reminding you of your dental appointment on [Date] at [Time]. Reply ‘C’ to confirm or ‘R’ to reschedule. See you soon!

Email 1:

Subject: Reminder: Your Appointment with [Practice Name]

Body: "Hello [Patient Name], we look forward to seeing you soon! This is a reminder of your appointment on [Date] at [Time]. Please confirm your attendance by replying to this email or calling us at [Phone Number]."

SMS 2:

“

Friendly reminder: your dental appointment with [Practice Name] is scheduled for [Date] at [Time]. Let us know if you need to reschedule—otherwise, we’ll see you soon!

Email 2:

Subject: Just a Reminder: Your Appointment with Us is Coming Up!

Body: "Dear [Patient Name], just a friendly reminder that your dental appointment at [Practice Name] is scheduled for [Date] at [Time]. To confirm, reply to this email, or call us at [Phone Number]. Looking forward to your visit!"

4. Same-Day Reminder

Templates for reminders sent a few hours before the appointment.

SMS 1:

“

Hi [Patient Name], just a reminder that you have an appointment at [Practice Name] today at [Time]. We’re looking forward to seeing you!

Email 1:

Subject: Today’s Appointment Reminder

Body: "Dear [Patient Name], we’re all set for your appointment today at [Time]. If you need to reach us or reschedule, please call [Phone Number]. We can’t wait to see you!"

SMS 2:

“

Today’s the day! We’re looking forward to seeing you at [Practice Name] for your [Time] appointment. Please reply ‘YES’ to confirm.

Email 2:

Subject: Looking Forward to Your Appointment Today

Body: "Hello [Patient Name], today is your appointment day! We’re excited to see you at [Time]. Should anything come up, please give us a call at [Phone Number]. Safe travels!"

5. Follow-Up Reminder (Post-Visit)

Templates for follow-ups post-appointment, useful for feedback or check-in after a procedure.

SMS 1:

“

Hi [Patient Name], we hope you're feeling well after your appointment at [Practice Name]. If you have questions or need further assistance, reply here or call [Phone Number].

Email 1:

Subject: Follow-Up from Your Visit at [Practice Name]

Body: "Hello [Patient Name], we hope you had a positive experience during your visit with us. If you have any questions or feedback, please reply to this email. Thank you for trusting us with your care!"

SMS 2:

“

Thank you for visiting [Practice Name], [Patient Name]! We hope you’re doing well. Have any feedback or questions? We’d love to hear from you. Call [Phone Number] anytime.

Email 2:

Subject: Thank You for Your Visit!

Body: "Hi [Patient Name], it was great seeing you at [Practice Name]! If you have any questions, or if there’s anything we can assist you with, don’t hesitate to reach out. We hope you enjoyed your experience with us!"

6. Recall or Re-Engagement Reminders

Templates to bring back patients who may be overdue for a cleaning or check-up.

SMS 1:

“

Hi [Patient Name]! This is [Practice Name] letting you know it’s time for your next dental cleaning. Reply to schedule or call us at [Phone Number]. We look forward to seeing you!

Email 1:

Subject: Time for Your Next Check-Up!

Body: "Hello [Patient Name], it's been a while since your last visit! To keep your smile healthy, we recommend a check-up every [6 months/year]. Click here to book your next appointment or give us a call at [Phone Number]. We’d love to see you again!"

SMS 2:

“

Hi [Patient Name], it’s time to get back on track with your dental care! Schedule your next check-up at [Practice Name] today by calling [Phone Number]. We’d love to help keep your smile bright!

Email 2:

Subject: Time for Your Next Dental Check-Up!

Body: "Hello [Patient Name], a healthy smile requires regular care. It’s been [X months] since your last visit, so now is a great time to schedule your next cleaning. Give us a call at [Phone Number] to set up an appointment. We look forward to seeing you soon!

7. Missed Appointment Follow-Up

Templates for reaching out to patients who missed their appointment, with an option to reschedule.

SMS 1:

“

Hi [Patient Name], we missed you at [Practice Name] today! Please call [Phone Number] to reschedule, or reply here and we’ll help you find a convenient time.

Email 1:

Subject: We Missed You at Your Appointment

Body: "Dear [Patient Name], we noticed you weren’t able to make it to your appointment. We’d be happy to help reschedule for a time that works better for you. Please reply to this email or call us at [Phone Number]. Looking forward to seeing you!"

SMS 2:

“

Oops, we missed you at your appointment, [Patient Name]! Please reply or call [Phone Number] to reschedule. We want to make sure your dental needs are met.

Email 2:

Subject: Missed Appointment Follow-Up

Body: "Dear [Patient Name], we noticed that you weren’t able to make it to your recent appointment. Life happens! If you’d like to reschedule, please reply to this email or call us at [Phone Number]. We’ll be happy to find a new time that works for you."

8. Promotional or Special Offers

Templates for sending reminders about discounts on treatments or special events.

SMS 1:

“

Hi [Patient Name], enjoy [discount/special offer] on your next appointment at [Practice Name]! Call [Phone Number] to book or reply for more details.

Email 1:

Subject: Special Offer for Your Next Visit!

Body: "Hello [Patient Name], we have a special promotion just for you! Get [discount/offer details] on your next visit. Schedule today by calling [Phone Number] or replying to this email. We hope to see you soon!"

SMS 2:

“

Ready to brighten your smile? Enjoy 20% off teeth whitening at [Practice Name] when you schedule this month! Call [Phone Number] or reply for more info.

Email 2:

Subject: Special Offer Just for You! Get [Offer] on Your Next Appointment

Body: "Hi [Patient Name], as a valued patient, you’re eligible for [special offer/discount] on [specific treatment]. Simply call [Phone Number] to schedule, and let us know you’re taking advantage of this offer. We can’t wait to see you and help keep your smile radiant!"

How to Implement an Effective Appointment Reminder Strategy

There are a few steps you can take as you try to plan and implement your appointment reminder strategy.

1. Determine Which SMS System Will Work with Your Process

Ideally, you’ll want an SMS system that’s able to integrate with your calendar and database, so that you can easily automate processes.

Mobile Text Alerts is able to integrate with thousands of services without needing coding, through the integration site Zapier.com—or if you have access to developers, you can set up your own integrations via API.

Once you’ve determined what system you’re going to use, you can plan other aspects of your strategy.

2. Determine Who Will Manage the Reminders

Designate someone (or a team of people) in your office who will be in charge of setting up and sending out the reminder texts.

Since the process can often be automated, they likely won’t need to micromanage too many of the details. But it’s good to have someone in charge who can make sure everything goes smoothly.

3. Determine How Many Reminder Messages You’ll Send

As mentioned above, we would recommend 2–3 appointment reminder messages per visit. But you can make that determination for your own office based on what you think will be effective for your patients.

You can also try a certain number of texts for a while and see how it goes—then change later if needed.

4. Determine What Your Appointment Reminders Will Say

The good thing about appointment reminders is you don’t have to get too creative. You can set up a series of messages and use that same template for all of your texts (just with different details filled in personalized to the patient).

Figure out what you want to say, and write it down—then you won’t have to do it again.

5. Get Your Message Flow Going in Your SMS Platform

After you’ve made your plan for your appointment reminders, you can start implementing it in your chosen SMS platform. Once messages start sending out, you should see fewer no-shows for your appointments.

(Make sure to record a benchmark data point for your no-shows before implementing SMS, so that you have a point of comparison.)

6. Monitor Results and Optimize as Needed

As your messages go out, you can monitor the results. After your reminders have been going for a while (at least 1 month), you can analyze data points such as:

• Whether or not you’re seeing the reduction of no-shows that you were hoping for
• How many are responding to your texts
• How many are opting out of your texts
• How many are clicking links within your texts (if you include links)

Once you’ve analyzed some of that data, you can make more informed decisions about how to optimize your texts.

How to Set Up Appointment Reminders for Your Dental Practice

To set up SMS dentist appointment reminders with Mobile Text Alerts, here are a few steps you can follow:

1. Create a Free SMS Platform Account

You can get started by setting up a free trial, which allows you to try things out without having to commit to anything.

Your free trial will let you get a feel for the platform, see what it’s like to send messages, and add in your contact database.

2. Get a Free 1-on-1 Walkthrough

After you’ve created a free account, the next step is to get a free walkthrough of that account. SMS experts can do a free 1-on-1 consultation. They’ll walk you through everything and can give you advice specific to the dental industry.

They’ll also be able to answer whatever questions you might have about getting started and help you get things set up.

3. Load in Your Contacts

You’ll most likely load your contacts initially into the SMS platform via a spreadsheet import. You’ll just take your list of contacts, put it into a spreadsheet, and drop it into the system.

Your patients will then be automatically loaded into the SMS platform.

4. Set Up Your Messages

If you want to send your messages manually, you can simply input them as needed into the online dashboard and schedule them for the appropriate time.

More likely, you’ll want to automate the messages. You may be able to do that by using the integration site Zapier.com. Otherwise, if you have access to web developers, you can also have them use API to set up the automation. (The API documentation they’ll need can be found here.)

5. Analyze Reports

You’ll be able to monitor and analyze your messaging efforts from the dashboard reports.

That way, you’ll be able to see how successful your messaging efforts are proving to be.

Try Dental Appointment Reminders for Your Practice

Want to give SMS reminders a try for your dental office?

Get a free trial account today to test things out for yourself.