Best Dental Scheduling Software for 2024

Introduction 

A popular research theory on productivity called the  “2-minute rule” states that if a task takes less than 2 minutes, people are more likely to do it immediately. How is this relevant in the context of a dental practice? 

If practices make it easy for patients or potential patients to schedule an appointment without many hurdles, they will most likely do it immediately. So how can dental practices make the process of scheduling appointments more efficient? 

A tool that can help dental practices make scheduling easy is dental scheduling software. What is it exactly and how does it work?  

Top Dental Scheduling Software for 2024

Following is the list of overall top dental scheduling software and top free dental scheduling software for 2024.

Top 5 Dental Scheduling Software 

Emitrr

Emitrr is a vertical scheduling software specifically designed for the dental industry. Hence, Emitrr boasts deep integrations with popular PMS such as Dentrix, OpenDental, Denticon etc. Emitrr isn’t limited to scheduling features; it also offers features for engaging patients throughout the journey. 

Emitrr Features

• Appointment scheduling 
• Appointment reminders
• Digital Forms 
• Calendar management and calendar sync 
• Personalizations 
• Review Requests 
• Automated recall
• Real-time Scheduling 
• Reporting 

Emitrr Ratings

• Customer Support: Emitrr has a stellar support rating of 5/5 on Capterra. Here is what Customers have to say about Emitrr’s support
• Value for Money: Emitrr has a 4.9/5 rating for Value for Money on Capterra. 
• Overall: Emitrr has an overall rating of 4.8/5 on Capterra:

Emitrr Reviews

Here is what Emitrr customers have to say :

Acuity Scheduling

Acuity Scheduling is a popular scheduling software used across various industries. It allows you to offer appointment bookings directly through your website. 

Acuity Scheduling Features 

– Appointment scheduling 

– Appointment reminders

– Digital Forms 

– Calendar management and calendar sync 

– Personalizations 

– Review Requests 

– Real-time Scheduling 

– Reporting 

Acuity Scheduling Rating 

• Customer Support: Acuity Scheduling has a customer support rating of 4.7/5 on Capterra. 
• Value for Money: Acuity Scheduling has a value for money rating of 4.7/5 on Capterra. 
• Overall: Acuity Scheduling has an overall rating of 4.8/5. 

Acuity Scheduling Reviews

Here is what Acuity Scheduling customers have to say about the
Product:

Weave 

Weave is a customer engagement platform that also offers scheduling features. Weave is used by small and medium businesses, as well as by healthcare providers. 

Weave Features

– Appointment scheduling 

– Appointment reminders

– Digital Forms 

– Calendar management and calendar sync 

– Personalizations 

– Review Requests 

– Reporting

Weave Ratings

– Customer Support: Weave has a customer support rating of 3.8/5 on Capterra,
– Value for Money: Weave has a rating of 4/5
– Overall: Weave has an overall rating of 4.3/5 

Weave Reviews

Here is what Weave users have to say about the product:

Thryv

Thryv is the all-in-one management software built for small businesses., Thryv integrates features like contact management, CRM, text (SMS) and email marketing, etc. 

Thryv Features

– Appointment scheduling 

– Appointment reminders

– Digital Forms 

– Calendar management and calendar sync 

– Personalizations 

– Review Requests 

– Reporting 

Thryv Ratings:

– Customer Support: Thryv has a customer support rating of 4.3/5 on Capterra,
– Value for Money: Thryv has a rating of 4/5
– Overall: Thryv has an overall rating of 4.2/5 

Thryv Reviews:

Here is what Thryv users have to say about the product:

Zocdoc

Zocdoc is an online service that allows patients to find and book appointments with doctors or dentists. It also has a physician and dentist comparison database. Practices that sign up get listed on the platform.  Every booking that a practice receives via Zocdoc is chargeable.

Zocdoc Features

• Appointment Scheduling on Website through Widget 
• Intake forms 
• Appointment Reminders 

Zocdoc Rating

Zocdoc has a rating of 4.8 on Google Play 

Zocdoc Reviews

Top Free Dental Scheduling Software 

If you’re looking for solutions that offer free scheduling, here is a list of scheduling softwares that offers free scheduling options or have free plans in their pricing tiers. 

SimplyBook.me

SimplyBook.me is an online appointment booking system for small businesses to enterprises across all service-providing industries. SimplyBook.me offers a free plan for scheduling. Let’s have a look at the features it offers in its free plan.

SimplyBook.me Features

• Upto 50 appointment bookings per month
• Booking Website
• Booking Widget 

SimplyBook.me Ratings

• Customer Support: Thryv has a customer support rating of 4.3/5 on Capterra,
• Overall: Thryv has an overall rating of 4.2/5 

Appointy

Appointy helps save time and automate appointment booking across many sectors like education, IT, retail, government, including dental healthcare. Appointy offers a free plan in its pricing tier. 

Appointy Features

• 100 Appointment Bookings per month 
• Integrate website with Facebook S
• Schedule classes, group events 

Appointy Ratings

• Customer Support: Appointy has a customer support rating of 4.8/5 on Capterra
• Overall: Appointy has an overall rating of 4.6/5
  

Setmore

Setmore is a free online appointment scheduling software. Businesses can manage all their appointments through this system. 

Setmore Features

– Upto 200 appointment bookings

– Booking Page
– Social, CRM, and Website integration

Setmore Ratings
 

• Customer Support: Setmore has a customer support rating of 4.7/5 on Capterra
• Overall: Setmore has an overall rating of 4.6/5

Mend

Mend is a healthcare communication platform that offers appointment scheduling options as well. Mend specializes in medium to large healthcare organizations of 20 or more providers.

Mend Free Features are not listed on their website. 

Mend Ratings 

• Customer Support: Mend has a customer support rating of 4.5/5 on Capterra
• Overall: Mend has an overall rating of 4.5/5
  

Key Highlights: 

As you can see from the list above, free dental scheduling softwares have certain limitations.

• There is a limit on the number of appointment bookings that can be scheduled. 
• Appointment Reminders are not included in most free plans 
• Real-time sync with PMS is not available with free plans. 

What does dental scheduling software do? 

Dental scheduling software provides a user with various methods to schedule appointments online. Most dental scheduling software offers the option to add an appointment scheduling widget on websites like booking or business websites, and social media profiles like Facebook, Instagram, and Google Business profiles.

By providing patients with multiple booking options, practices are making it easier for them to reach out. Aside from scheduling options, the software also offers varied features like appointment reminders, digital intake forms, automated recall, and much more. We will discuss these in more detail in the coming sections. 

Benefits of dental scheduling software

1. Convenient for Patients

Since dental scheduling software allows patients to book appointments at any time of the day through the dental practice’s website or Google business page it makes it super convenient for them. They can simply book an appointment with a few clicks without having to wait long hours trying to get in touch over the phone. Patients can even book an appointment during out-of-office hours, ensuring that practices do not miss bookings.

2. Offers flexibility

It gives patients more flexibility to schedule appointments that fit their schedule without much back-and-forth communication. Practices can specify the availability of their dentists, thus minimizing downtime.

3. Reduces no-show

Real-time Online Scheduling reduces no-shows and cancellations by allowing patients to select times that they know will work for them rather than pushing them to modify their schedule depending on available appointments. They’re more likely to keep the appointment if they get to choose the time they want rather than being pushed into something they don’t want to do. Scheduling softwares also comes with appointment reminder features which can be utilized to send patients reminders about their upcoming appointments hence ensuring a reduction in No-shows.

4. Increased practice efficiency 

Since scheduling softwares automate a lot of the processes from appointment booking to appointment reminders, it unburdens your staff from tasks such as manually scheduling appointments.

5. Increase patient satisfaction

All the points that we discussed above when in tandem create an enhanced patient experience. By giving patients the power to schedule appointments easily and according to their preference, by making it easy for patients to reach out to practices, and by automating the process of sending forms and review requests practices are building a strong communication channel with their patients. 

Choosing the perfect dental scheduling software: A checklist 

Now that you know how important a Dental Scheduling software is and what it can do for your practice, you must want to finalize one as soon as possible. Here is a checklist of things you should ensure that a dental scheduling software has before you zero down on one for your practice. 

1. PMS Integration Options

To get the best out of a scheduling software, it needs to be integrated with your PMS. Integration with a practice management software will ensure that necessary data is synchronized between both platforms. Here’s a list of things an integration with your PMS and Scheduling software should allow you to do:

• An appointment made through the scheduling software should also be reflected in the PMS. This helps maintain an up-to-date record of patients and their recent/upcoming visits. The integration would also make sure that the scheduling software does not display slots that are not available for booking. 
• Building on the above-mentioned point, the practice’s appointment booking link present all through the web (on the website, social, Google Business) should sync in real-time with the PMS so that it does not show slots that are booked. 
• If a recurring patient is booking an appointment, they must not become a new record in the PMS. Instead, the new information should be updated in the existing patient record. 
• One way the integration can counter it is by pre-filling patient information such as first name, and last name while they book an appointment.
  

2. HIPAA Compliance

It goes without saying that Dental scheduling software’s needs to ensure that they are HIPAA compliant. HIPAA rules are put in place to safeguard patient’s privacy and data. These softwares need to ensure that they safeguard the privacy of Protected Health Information (PHI).

3. Omni-Channel Scheduling

Users may seek to book an appointment from any channel of their preference. This is why practitioners need to be proactive and have scheduling options available in all relevant places. Some channels where you should place scheduling links or prompts without fail are:

– Practice Website 

– Social Media channels like Instagram, Facebook and X (Twitter)

– Google Business Profile 

Therefore when you are choosing a scheduling software make sure it allows you to have multiple scheduling options. 

4. Feature-Rich

Dental scheduling software can do way more than just help in appointment bookings. A good scheduling software would have diverse features such as:
  

• Appointment reminders: A booked appointment is merely the first step. It can only culminate when the patient actually visits their doctor. Ensuring that patients keep up with the appointment is as important, if not more than booking the appointment itself. Appointment reminders sent across the days leading up to the appointment can help ensure that patients do not miss their appointments. Softwares can allow you to set up a cadence for the reminders and also completely automate the process. 
• Digital intake forms: Digital intake forms allow patients to pre-fill necessary forms before reaching for their appointment. Digital intake forms make operations easy at the office and help patients save time they would otherwise spend filling paper intake forms at the dental practice. Scheduling softwares can have the ability to send and receive these digital forms in a secure manner adhering to the HIPAA guidelines. 
• Calendar and CRM integrations: When scheduling softwares integrates with office calendars it ensures that all appointment bookings are reflected on the calendar. 
• Automated recall: The scheduling software’s integration with the PMS allows the sending of automated recall messages to patients who are due for an appointment.
  

5. Analytics and Reports

Some dental scheduling softwares may also provide analytics and reports such as:

•  Analysis of appointment times, days, and frequency to identify peak hours and optimize scheduling. 
•  Tracking and analysis of missed appointments to develop strategies for reducing no-shows.
• Monitoring the rate and reasons for cancellations and rescheduled appointments.

 Why is Emitrr the best Dental scheduling software?  

As you can see from the section above Emitrr is the only software that provides the entire range of essential scheduling features, has a customer support rating of 5/5, and scores the highest in value for money with a rating of 4.9/5. Aside from that, other factors that make Emitrr stand out include: 

Easy Integrations

Import your entire contact list with just a few clicks. At Emitrr, our technical support team helps you with super quick integration solutions so that you can have all your contacts on one platform without any data inconsistencies. 

Emitrr offers more than 500 integrations. Emitrr supports integrations with all important dental PMS such as Dentrix, Denticon, OpenDental, and more. Emitrr is built for dentists and is not a horizontal scheduling platform, hence boasting the deep integrations with the PMSs

Affordable Pricing 

Emitrr offers Scheduling services along with features that complement the entire length of the patient journey. Emitrr offers all these services at a super affordable rate. Pricing starts at $30.

Features complementing the entire patient journey

Emitrr’s features are not limited to scheduling. Emitrr offers features that complement the entire length of the patient journey starting from appointment scheduling to bringing patients back for hygiene recall. Some of these features include:

• Sending appointment reminders (Automated or Manual)
• Sending Patient intake forms digitally in a secure manner 
• Syncing form data to PMS 
• Updating the status of appointments in the PMS
• Requesting Reviews once the appointment is completed
• Getting patients back for an appointment for a hygiene check-up when due. 

Additionally, you can view and send appointments based on different filter criteria right from your calendar itself. Filter criteria include: 

• Appointment based on provider
• Appointment based on visit type 
• Appointment based on the Patient
• Appointment based on date range  

. 

Dental Scheduling Software FAQs

Conclusion

Dental scheduling software is a powerful tool that can transform the way dental practices manage appointments and interact with patients. By incorporating features such as online booking, automated reminders, digital intake forms, and real-time scheduling, these systems enhance patient convenience and operational efficiency for practices. The ability to integrate with practice management systems (PMS) and ensure HIPAA compliance further solidifies their importance in modern dental practice management.

Emitrr stands out as a leading choice due to its comprehensive suite of features, deep integrations with popular PMS, and exceptional customer support. Its ability to handle the entire patient journey, from initial scheduling to recall appointments, makes it a valuable asset for any dental practice aiming to improve patient satisfaction and streamline operations. Schedule a demo with Emitrr to learn more!