How to pull an overdue recall list in Open Dental
If you want to know how to pull an overdue recall list in Open Dental, the answer is the Recall List, one of the program's Appointment Lists. This guide walks through the filters that turn it into a true overdue list, the columns worth watching, a weekly routine for working it, and why a standard schedule export can do part of the job for you.
- The Recall List lives in Open Dental's Appointment Lists and is built to send and track recall reminders.
- For an overdue list, set the To date to today, leave From blank or set it to the oldest due date you want, and choose a Recall Type.
- Watch Due Date, #Remind, LastRemind, Status and Contact; these tell you who is overdue and who has already been chased.
- Group Families to avoid sending five reminders to one household.
- Menus can change between versions. Open Dental's online manual for your version is the authority.
Where the Recall List lives
Open Dental keeps its follow-up lists together as Appointment Lists, opened from the Lists button in the Appointments module. According to the Open Dental online manual, the Recall List is the one used "to send and track recall appointment reminders." It shows patients with a recall, such as prophy or perio, who need to be scheduled.
Two related views are worth knowing. The manual describes a Reminders view for patients who have already been sent a reminder, and a Reactivations view for inactive patients who have not been seen recently. Use the Recall List for recently and moderately overdue patients, and the Reactivations view for the long-lapsed group. For the difference between the two programs, see recall vs. reactivation.
You need a user login with permission to see these lists. If the button is greyed out, ask whoever manages security settings in your office.
Step by step: setting the filters for an overdue list
The Recall List shows patients who meet every filter you set, and nothing changes until you click Refresh List. The manual documents these filters:
- From / To: the recall due date range. For an overdue list, set To to today. Leave From blank to include everyone, including patients who have never had a recall procedure completed, or set it to, say, 24 months ago to keep the list to patients you can still reasonably reach.
- Recall Type: Perio, Prophy or All. Many offices work perio patients first, since they are usually on shorter intervals.
- Provider and Clinic: narrow to one hygienist's or one location's patients if you split the work.
- Show Reminders and Include Reminded: decide whether to see patients who have already received reminders. For a first pass, include them so you see the whole overdue picture.
- Group Families: groups household members under the guarantor so one reminder covers the family.
- Sort: by Due Date, alphabetically or by billing type. Sort by Due Date for overdue work, so the most recently overdue are together.
- Click Refresh List.
The columns that matter
The manual lists these columns in the Recall List grid: Due Date, Patient, Age, Type, Interval, #Remind, LastRemind, Contact, Status, Note, Billing Type, WebSched and Carrier Name. Columns can be customized under Display Fields for the Recall List. For overdue work, five carry most of the weight:
- Due Date: how far past due the patient is. Group the list into bands, for example 3-6, 6-12, 12-24 and 24+ months, because each band needs a different message. Our dental recall text message templates are organized the same way.
- #Remind and LastRemind: how many times the office has already reached out, and when. A patient reminded four times last month needs a call, not a fifth reminder.
- Status: your office's own recall statuses, such as left message or will call back. They're defined under Definitions: Recall / Unsched Status, so make sure the team uses the same few every time.
- Contact: the method on file. It tells you who can be texted and who needs a call or letter.
- Carrier Name: useful for patients whose plan may have changed; ask for an updated card when they book.
Working the list each week
A long list worked once a quarter loses patients. A shorter list worked every week keeps them. A simple routine:
- Monday: refresh the list with To set to today, sorted by Due Date. Note the count by band.
- Clean as you go: patients who have moved, transferred records or asked not to be contacted should be updated in the chart so they drop off. Every bad row makes the list look worse than it is.
- Contact in order: most recently overdue first, because they book most easily. Use the right channel from the Contact column.
- Set a status on every contact. Highlight the patients, choose the status, and click Set. The next person picks up where you left off.
- Friday: count how many patients from Monday's list now have an appointment. That number is the one to watch over time.
Getting the list out as data
The manual documents several outputs from the Recall List: Print List, Single Labels, Label Preview, Postcard Preview and Run Report, which generates a patient query for use in a Word mail merge. It does not describe a direct spreadsheet export from the Recall List window itself. If you need the overdue patients as a file, the usual routes are the Run Report query, or a user query run by whoever administers your Open Dental, under your office's normal data-handling rules.
Any file with patient names and due dates is protected health information. Keep it in a secure location, share it only with vendors who have signed a Business Associate Agreement, and delete local copies when the job is done.
Illustrative math: what one band is worth
These numbers are illustrative. Say your Recall List, filtered to To = today, shows 260 patients, and 70 of them are 3 to 6 months past due. If a hygiene visit at your office is worth $180 and steady weekly contact books 20 of those 70, that band alone is $3,600 in visits, before any treatment found at those appointments.
Track the bands separately from week to week. If the 3-6 month band is shrinking but the 24+ band keeps growing, recall is working on the front end and patients are still slipping out the back. That's a cue to start a reactivation effort for the oldest group.
DocsDDS finds overdue patients from your standard Open Dental export
DocsDDS, the dental edition of DocsMD, works alongside Open Dental starting from the standard schedule export your office already produces, such as the Appointments report, with no installation and no system access. It spots patients who are past due with nothing booked, reaches them with minimum-necessary texts and numbered choices, and hands each booking to your front desk to enter. Every recovered visit is itemized in a weekly report, under a Business Associate Agreement signed first. See how exports work in our Open Dental export guide.
Questions
Why doesn't a patient show up on the Open Dental Recall List?
Common reasons are a recall that was disabled, a due date outside your From/To range, a filter such as Provider or Recall Type that excludes them, or reminders filtered out because Include Reminded is off. Check the patient's Recall grid in the Family module.
Can I export the Recall List to Excel?
The manual documents printing, labels, postcards and a Run Report option that builds a patient query for mail merge, but not a direct spreadsheet export from the list window. A user query run by your administrator is another route.
How often should we work the overdue recall list?
Weekly is a good rhythm for most offices. Refresh it with To set to today, work the most recently overdue first and record a status on every contact.
What's the difference between the Recall List and Reactivations?
The Recall List tracks patients due or past due for recall. Open Dental's Reactivations view is for inactive patients who haven't been seen recently, the long-lapsed group that needs a different approach.