Half your patients are overdue for their check-up.
None of them know it.
An analysis of recall patterns across Australian dental practices — and the system that fixes it.
Routiq - Australian Dental Report 2026Dental is the single largest category of private health insurance claims in Australia.
Dental care runs on a 6-month cycle.
Most patients don't.
Check-ups and cleans every 6 months. Perio maintenance every 3-6 months. Ortho adjustments every 6-8 weeks. These are recurring needs being treated as one-off visits.
Etactics, PMCThe economics of ignoring recall.
Most practices spend 80% of their marketing budget chasing new patients while existing patients silently disappear.
A consistent pattern across every dental practice we analyse.
Across the practices we reviewed, the same story repeated — the majority of patients are overdue for their recall, reachable by SMS, and have never received a clinically-relevant message prompting them to return.
What follows is representative of what we typically see in dental practice databases.
In a typical dental practice database, more than half of all patients are overdue for their 6-month check-up and clean. Many haven't visited in years.
Typical patient recency distribution
Most dental practices have no automated system for understanding a patient's treatment history, identifying who is overdue against their specific recall interval, or sending clinically-relevant messages at scale.
Practice management software manages bookings. It was never designed to bring patients back.
Four reengagement segments hiding in every dental database.
What reengagement looks like for a typical dental practice.
Based on a practice with 5,000 patients, ~60% overdue, at standard Australian private dental rates.
| Segment | Estimated Pool | Reengagement Rate | Recovered | Avg Value | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recall Overdue | ~1,750 | 12% | 210 | $350 | $73,500 |
| Treatment Incomplete | ~750 | 8% | 60 | $1,200 | $72,000 |
| Long-Lapsed | ~1,000 | 5% | 50 | $450 | $22,500 |
| No-Show Recovery | ~400 | 25% | 100 | $350 | $35,000 |
| Total - First Pass | 420 | $203,000 |
And recall patients don't come once — they come every 6 months. Those 210 recovered patients generate $73,500 every 6 months in recurring revenue. Plus 40-60% of recall visits identify additional treatment needs.
Modelled on Australian private dental rates. Conservative reengagement assumptions.These numbers aren't optimistic. They're conservative.
“We already send recall letters and our front desk calls patients.”
Phone calls reach 80-90% voicemail. SMS is read 97-99% of the time. The difference isn't effort — it's reach.
82 cognitive principles from Nobel Prize-winning research. Applied to every message, automatically.
Routiq's messaging engine is built on behavioral science frameworks from 20 seminal works in psychology and economics — not marketing copywriting.
Loss Aversion + Endowment Effect
The first asks for action. The second activates loss aversion ($150 vs $2,000+), anchoring (9 months vs 6-month norm), and default effect (a spot already available). Loss-framed messages outperform gain-framed messages by 2-3x in healthcare settings.
Specificity (names the exact treatment), loss aversion (tooth vulnerability over time), shrink the change (45-minute appointment, not an ordeal), pratfall effect (zero guilt for no-shows), and planning prompts (specific options, not open-ended).
The 3-touch behavioural escalation sequence.
Every campaign follows the same evidence-based structure. Three messages. Three psychological mechanisms. Automated and personalised.
Loss Aversion
“Your last check-up was 9 months ago. Small issues caught early are simple to fix — the same issues left untreated can become costly. We'd love to get you back on track.”
Default Effect + Endowment
“We've reserved a spot for you on Thursday at 10am. If you have private health cover, your check-up and clean may be fully covered. Reply YES to confirm.”
Social Proof + Scarcity
“Most of our patients come in every 6 months to stay ahead of any issues. We have a couple of spots left this week if you'd like to get back on schedule.”
Three layers no one else has.
Routiq doesn't just know a patient is “overdue.” It knows their last check-up was 9 months ago, their perio risk is moderate, they have an incomplete crown prep, and their insurance resets in March. 52 dental-specific protocols built in.
82 principles from 20 seminal works in psychology and behavioral economics. Not copywriting tips — systematic frameworks applied automatically. Each segment gets the right lever at the right time.
Daily monitoring against each patient's recall schedule. Messages sent from your own practice number at the exact overdue moment. Replies handled instantly with AI-powered clinical context. Works nights, weekends, holidays.
Where Routiq sits.
| Capability | Front Desk | PMS / D4W / OMS | Routiq |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recall messages per day | ~20 phone calls | Basic reminders | Unlimited, daily |
| Knows treatment history | If they check the chart | Stores data, doesn't act on it | Yes - protocol-based |
| Risk-stratified recall intervals | No | Manual setup | Yes - 52 protocols |
| Segments by priority | No | No | Yes - 4 segments |
| Behavioral science messaging | No | No | 82 principles, systematic |
| Multi-touch campaign escalation | No | No | 3-touch, automated |
| AI-powered reply handling | During office hours | No | Instant, 24/7 |
| Works after hours | No | No | Yes - always on |
Your PMS holds the data. Routiq turns that data into revenue.
Reengagement isn't a campaign. It's a system that compounds.
Recall patients don't come once — they come every 6 months. Each reactivated patient becomes recurring revenue. Based on recovering 50 recall patients per month at $350/visit.
By month 12: 300+ reactivated patients generating $210,000+ annual recurring revenue — plus treatment revenue from issues identified at recall visits.
What this means for your practice.
The pattern is universal. The opportunity scales with your database size.
| Your Database Size | Estimated Overdue (~60%) | Conservative Recovery | Moderate Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,000 patients | 1,200 | $24,000 | $48,000 |
| 5,000 patients | 3,000 | $60,000 | $120,000 |
| 10,000 patients | 6,000 | $120,000 | $240,000 |
| 20,000 patients | 12,000 | $240,000 | $480,000 |
| 50,000 patients | 30,000 | $600,000 | $1,200,000 |
Based on blended average of $400 per patient and industry-standard 60% overdue rate across dental practices. Excludes recurring revenue multiplier from 6-month recall cycle.
Industry benchmark: 15-25% of lapsed patients can be successfully re-engaged via recall campaignsWithout Routiq
Front desk making ~20 calls a day (80% voicemail)
Revenue dependent on new patient acquisition
No visibility into incomplete treatment plans
Private health insurance benefits going unused
80% of marketing budget on acquisition
With Routiq
52 dental protocols running daily
Revenue from patients you've already acquired
Automated behavioral campaigns for every segment
Risk-stratified recall intervals (3, 6, 12-month)
Fraction of the cost, 10x the ROI
You already did the hard part — building a patient base, earning their trust, keeping their teeth healthy.
Those patients didn't leave because they were unhappy. They left because life got busy and nobody reminded them.
Their teeth haven't stopped needing care. They just need the right nudge.
How much of your dormant revenue do you want to leave on the table?
routiq.
Clinical Intelligence Meets Behavioral Science
routiq.ai
APRA Private Health Insurance Statistics 2025
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
Medicare Benefits Schedule Data
HotDoc Patient Survey
Bain & Company / Harvard Business Review
Etactics / TrackStat
Dialog Health / LionShare Marketing
Klara / PMC Meta-Analysis
PMC Systematic Reviews
First Page Sage / Artisan Growth Strategies
Practice analysis data from Routiq platform analysis. All data anonymised and presented as industry patterns. February 2026.