How recall intervals and due dates are set in the software

A patient says they were in four months ago, but the list says they're overdue. Or the reverse: someone is six months out and nothing has shown up. Check three things, in this order. The last-visit date, the interval, and any hand-edited due date.

Check the last-visit date first

The software needs a starting point. In Open Dental it's called the Previous Date, and the manual says it's based on the completed procedures that trigger the recall, or on insurance history.¹

If the wrong procedure was marked complete, or the right one wasn't, the date is wrong from the start. SoftDent warns about a version of this. In SoftDent's User-Defined Recall setup, if no code that triggers a recall or an explosion code is selected, the Perio date isn't reset when the patient keeps a recall appointment. The patient then stays overdue until someone changes the date by hand.²

Then look at the interval

The interval is the gap between one recall visit and the next. Open Dental describes the default interval as setting the length of time between each recall appointment and calculating the due date.³ SoftDent lets an office set a default interval between recall appointments too.⁴

The sum is simple. Open Dental's manual gives the calculated due date as the Previous Date plus the recall interval.¹

One small detail trips people up. The manual says a common prophy interval (a prophy is a routine cleaning) is 6 months plus 1 day, so that six-month recalls aren't scheduled too early.³ If your list shows patients a day short of the mark, an interval set to a flat six months may be the reason.

Who sets the interval

The software only stores the number, and it can be set at two levels.

• For everyone with that recall type. In Open Dental you edit the recall type itself.¹
• For one patient. Open Dental lets you enter a new value on that patient's recall, which changes it for that patient only.¹
• SoftDent. The manual says you can override the default frequency, codes, notices and time units for each patient.²

Why does this matter for troubleshooting? Because a patient-level change sits on top of the default. Open Dental says that when you sync after changing a recall type, the sync won't change a patient's manual edits to their interval, but their due date may be recalculated.³ So you can fix the default and still see one old patient on the wrong gap. Check the due date as well as the interval.

Then the due date itself

Open Dental keeps two dates. The calculated one comes from the sum above. The actual due date is typically the same but may be changed.¹ If someone typed over it, it can drift from the calculation. Check whether the two match before you blame the interval.

What this page can't tell you

How often a patient should come back is a clinical choice. It isn't something the software or the front desk decides. Use the number the clinician gives, and check your own maker's help pages, because screens differ by product and version.

Once the dates look right, the next problem is usually reaching people. Text, email, phone and mail picks that up.