If your office has noticed that patients are still receiving appointment reminders after their appointment has been canceled or marked as a no-show, this is typically due to how and when the appointment status is updated in Dentrix Ascend.
What’s Happening
Appointment reminders are triggered based on the appointment status at the time the reminder is sent.
If a reminder is scheduled while the appointment is still active (such as “Unconfirmed” or “Scheduled”), the message will still be delivered—even if the appointment is updated afterward.
How to Prevent Reminders After Cancellation
To ensure reminders are stopped, follow these best practices in Dentrix Ascend:
Update the Appointment Status
Mark the appointment as:
Broken (Canceled) OR
No Show
These statuses prevent future reminders from being sent.
Update Status Immediately
If the appointment is updated after a reminder has already been triggered, the message will still be sent.
Always update the status as soon as the patient cancels or misses the appointment.
Avoid Relying on Deleting Appointments
Deleting appointments may not immediately sync with Practice by Numbers.
This functionality is currently being improved.
Instead, use Broken or No Show statuses to stop reminders.
Recommended Workflow
Patient cancels → update to Broken (Canceled)
If rescheduling → select Reschedule Now
If the patient does not arrive → mark as No Show
This helps:
Stop future reminders
Maintain accurate reporting
Preserve appointment history
Important Notes
Reminders cannot be stopped once they have already been sent.
Status updates must happen before the reminder trigger time.
Using proper statuses ensures accurate KPI and reporting data.
Need Help?
If you’re still seeing reminders being sent after updating appointment statuses correctly, please contact Support with:
Patient name(s)
Appointment date(s)
Any screenshots or examples
This will help us investigate further.