Use Consent Form Settings in Practice by Numbers to control where completed consent forms are stored and how patient and guardian information is handled.

These settings help keep consent documentation organized in your Practice Management System (PMS) and ensure the appropriate patient information is collected when forms are completed.

Select the default folder or document category where completed consent forms should be stored in your Practice Management System (PMS).

For example, your practice may use: Informed Consent

This selection becomes the default storage location for consent forms. If a specific consent form needs to be stored elsewhere, you can customize the folder or document category for that form.

Using the appropriate category makes it easier for your team to locate completed consent documentation within the patient's record.

Use the guardian settings to determine whether guardian information should appear on consent forms and whether it must be completed.

If guardian information is required, make sure Show Guardian Info is also enabled so the necessary fields are available.

Configure these options based on how your practice handles consent forms for patients who require a parent or guardian. Click Save after making your changes.

Consent forms can also be included with the New Patient Form and Upcoming Appointment Patient Form automations.

Enable Include Consent Form within the applicable automation to include eligible consent forms with the patient's automated form request.

Before using a consent form in an automation, review any merge tags it includes. Consent forms containing custom merge tags are not supported in automated form delivery.

Merge tags allow PbN to automatically populate supported information from the patient or appointment into a form.

For example, if a consent form needs to reference the tooth numbers associated with an appointment, the supported merge tag is: {{ teeth_numbers }}

When this supported tag is used correctly, and the applicable data is available, PbN can automatically pull the tooth-number information into the form. This allows your practice to create reusable consent forms without manually entering the same appointment-specific information each time.

A supported merge tag must be entered exactly as documented.

Even a small change to the spelling, pluralization, spacing, or underscores causes PbN to treat it as a custom merge tag instead of the intended system-supported tag.

For example:

Important: An incorrectly entered tag does not generate an error. Instead, PbN treats it as a custom tag, and the expected patient or appointment information will not automatically populate.
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This is especially important for consent forms used in automations because forms containing custom merge tags are not supported in Patient Form Automations.

When adding a supported merge tag to a consent form:

Whenever possible, copy and paste the supported merge tag rather than typing it manually. This helps prevent small formatting differences that can cause the tag to be treated as custom.

If an expected consent form is missing from a New Patient Form or Upcoming Appointment Patient Form automation:

For tooth numbers, make sure the form uses: {{ teeth_numbers }}

and not a similar variation such as {{ tooth_numbers }} or {{ teeth_number }}.

If the consent form intentionally contains a custom merge tag, it will not be supported in the automated form workflow.

Consent forms can also be recommended when a treatment plan is presented.

Under Forms > Settings > Treatment Plan, enable Automatically recommend Consent forms when Treatment Plan is presented to have applicable consent forms recommended as part of the treatment plan workflow.

This setting is separate from the Include Consent Form setting, which is used with Patient Form Automations.

For more information, see Configuring Treatment Plan Settings.

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