Recall Types

Recall Types

"Recall" procedures can be any type of recurring procedure, such as cleanings, exams, and x-rays. Each one has a trigger that tells the system to create a due date for the next one. For example, when a D1110 or D1120 (adult or child prophy) is completed in the system, and the interval is left at the default setting of six months and one day, the system will automatically mark that the patient is due for a prophy six months later. These types of global settings are customizable and are covered on this page.

Patients are assigned an exam recall and prophy recall. If you need to change an individual patient's recall settings, such as assigning a perio maintenance rather than a prophy, you'll make the change in the Family Module. See Patient Recall Setup for additional details on this. Or, if you'd like to adjust global settings related to when patients appear on Lists and the messages they receive, go to Recall & Confirmation Setup.

Access Recall Types Setup

To access Recall Types Setup, choose "Setup" from the main menu, then select "Appointments" and "Recall Types" from the dropdown menu.


The Recall Types window will open.


Add or Edit a Recall Type

  1. To edit a Recall Type, double-click the entry in the RecallTypes grid. 
  2. To add a new Recall Type, click "Add" at the bottom of the Recall Types window.
Either choice will open the Edit Recall Type window and look similar to the one below.


  1. Procedures that trigger a recall can be removed or added to the "Procedures that trigger this recall type" field, when one or more of these procedures are set complete in the patient’s chart module it will generate a recall for that patient based on these defaults. 
  2. The default for the next recall due date can be set under "Default Interval." 
  3. The 'When automatically creating appointments" area is for when a recall appointment is made. The "Time Pattern" is for the length of time the appointment will be made for. The / represent the assistant's time and the X represents the doctor's time. 
  4. The "Procedures on Appointment" area will display the procedures that will automatically be assigned to the recall appointment. 
  5. To disable a Recall Type, remove the procedures from “Procedures that Trigger a Recall Type" field. 
  6. To add a recall type, click on the "Add" button from within the "Recall Type" dialog. 
  7. In the "Description" field, enter the name of the recall type. 
  8. In the "Special Type" field, select the type or leave at "None." 
  9. In the "Procedures that trigger this recall type," click on the "Add" button and select the procedures that will trigger this recall type. 
  10. In the "Default Interval" fields, enter the interval for the recall due date. 
  11. In "When automatically creating appointments" enter / and X for the length of time for the recall appointment. 
  12. In the "Procedures on Appointments," click on the "Add" button and select the procedures that will be assigned to the recall appointment. 
  13. Click the "OK" button when done. 
Most offices should have one of each "special" types.  Prophy and Perio are mutually exclusive and are considered the primary recall types.  The triggers for both of these special types cross over and act as triggers for both types.  The child prophy type does not actually get assigned to any patients.  It is only used to determine what procedures to put on a new appointment for a child.

Prophy and perio types are special.  Every patient will be assigned a prophy recall regardless of any previous triggers.  This is to keep patients from falling through the cracks.  There are a few ways to remove a patient from the recall list.  One is to set his/her status to something other than patient, such as non-patient or inactive.  Another way is to manually disable their recall.  Finally, you could set a start date when viewing the recall list, because these patients will not have a due date set.

If you are adding a custom recall type such as end follow-up in 6 months, then you will also need to go to Recall setup and add the new recall type to the list of types at the bottom of that window.  That will trigger your new type to show in the recall list.  There is not a lot of control over these custom recall types.  Any patient who has had that trigger will show, so use this feature lightly for now.

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