Reschedule Dental Appointments from WhatsApp with Open Dental

This recipe handles “can I move my appointment?” and “I need to cancel” on WhatsApp at any hour. It checks who is asking, applies your policy, offers open slots with the same provider and updates Open Dental. Part of the Open Dental integration.

What happens today

A patient messages on Sunday night that they cannot make Monday morning. Nobody reads it until the desk opens, the slot cannot be refilled in time, and the patient still needs a new appointment. The desk then spends several messages finding a time that suits both sides.

The flow that works

AeroChat finds the appointment in Open Dental by phone number and checks the date of birth.
It checks the request against your cancellation window.
For a move, it offers up to three open slots with the same provider and the same length.
When the patient picks one, it moves the appointment in Open Dental and sends the new details.
For a cancellation, it cancels the appointment and tells the patient how to book again.

The recipe

Copy this into AeroChat

When a patient asks to move or cancel an appointment, follow these steps.

Find their appointment in Open Dental by the phone number they are messaging from. Ask for their date of birth and check it matches before sharing any details. If they have more than one upcoming appointment, ask which one.

Check our cancellation policy. Example: free changes up to 24 hours before, and a late-change fee of US$25 after that (example). Tell them what applies before you change anything.

For a move, offer up to three open slots with the same provider and the same appointment length, closest to what they ask for.

When they choose, check the slot is still open, move the appointment in Open Dental, and send the new date, time and provider.

For a cancellation, cancel the appointment in Open Dental, confirm it in the chat, and offer to book a new time.

If the appointment is part of a course of treatment, such as a root canal visit, hand over to our team instead of moving it.

Never give clinical advice. Never waive a fee. If they mention pain or swelling, hand over to our team straight away. Reply in the patient’s language.

Change the cancellation window, fee and treatment exceptions 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 policies. Upload your cancellation policy to the AeroChat knowledge base.
Payments, if you charge late-change fees. Airwallex is built in. HitPay and Stripe connect with your API key if you already use them. Payment links are included from the Growth plan.

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

Your cancellation window and fee.
Which appointments patients can move in chat, and which go to a person.
Whether patients can switch provider when theirs has no open slots.

The result to expect

Cancellations reach Open Dental as soon as the patient sends them, so the slot can be refilled, and the patient leaves the chat with a new time. Measure it with your own numbers: same-week cancellations that were rebooked, and empty chair time, for a month before and after you start.

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

Move your first appointment in chat

Paste the recipe, connect Open Dental, and message your own number asking to move a test appointment.

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On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.