Confirm Dental Appointments from WhatsApp with Open Dental

This recipe handles what patients send back after a reminder: “yes confirm”, “what time was it again?” and “can’t make it, can we change?”. It marks the appointment confirmed in Open Dental, or moves it to a new open slot. Part of the Open Dental integration.

What happens today

Your reminders go out from Open Dental or as a WhatsApp broadcast, and the replies come back to a phone. Someone reads each one, finds the appointment, sets the confirmation status by hand, and calls the patients who said they cannot come. On a busy morning the replies wait, and a slot that could have been filled stays empty.

The flow that works

The reminder goes out the way it does today, from Open Dental or a WhatsApp broadcast. AeroChat does not send it.
The patient replies. AeroChat finds their next appointment in Open Dental by phone number, and checks the date of birth before sharing details.
A confirmation marks the appointment confirmed in Open Dental.
A “can’t make it” gets up to three open slots with the same provider, and the appointment moves when the patient picks one.
A question about the time or address gets an answer from the appointment and your fact sheet.

The recipe

Copy this into AeroChat

When a patient replies about an upcoming appointment, follow these steps.

Find their next appointment in Open Dental by the phone number they are messaging from. Before sharing any details, ask for their date of birth and check it matches.

If they confirm, mark the appointment confirmed in Open Dental and thank them.

If they ask the time, date or address, answer from the appointment and our fact sheet.

If they cannot come, check our cancellation policy. Example: changes are free up to 24 hours before. Offer up to three open slots with the same provider and the same length. When they choose, move the appointment in Open Dental and send the new details.

If they want to cancel without a new time, cancel the appointment in Open Dental and tell them how to book again.

If they mention pain, swelling or bleeding, hand the conversation to our team straight away.

Never give clinical advice. If you cannot find the appointment, ask for their full name and hand over to our team. Reply in the patient’s language.

Change the cancellation policy and the identity check to your own before you paste it.

What to connect

Open Dental. Your office adds the customer key for the integration under Setup, Advanced Setup, API, ticks Enabled, and keeps the eConnector running. Message us first and we’ll confirm the steps for your office. Enter the keys in the AeroChat dashboard when it asks.
Your reminders. Keep sending them the way you do now. If you send them on WhatsApp, broadcasts are included from the Growth plan.
Your fact sheet and policies. Upload your address, parking notes and cancellation policy to the AeroChat knowledge base.

Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.

Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.

What you still decide

How a patient proves who they are before details are shared.
Your cancellation window and any late-change fee.
Which appointments a patient cannot move in chat, such as long treatment sessions.

The result to expect

Confirmation status in Open Dental matches what patients said, without anyone typing it in. Patients who cannot come move to a new time in the same chat, and the freed slot opens for someone else. Measure it with your own numbers: confirmed appointments the day before, and no-shows, for a month before and after you start.

Next: rescheduling and cancellation and appointment booking with Open Dental. See also the dental recipe for appointment reminder replies.

Confirm your first appointment in chat

Paste the recipe, connect Open Dental, and reply to a test reminder from your own number.

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