Practice by Numbers’ Online Appointment Booking gives your patients 24/7 access to schedule appointments on their own—whether they’re new patients, returning patients, or booking specialized visits. This guide walks you through activating online booking and configuring all available options to match your practice’s workflow.
Activating Online Appointment Booking
Go to the Appointments module.
Select Settings from the left-hand menu.
Toggle the Activation switch in the upper-right corner to turn online booking On.
Once enabled, your public booking page becomes available through a unique URL found under Widgets.
General Settings
PMS Sync Options
Auto-update PMS with booked appointments
Automatically posts online appointments to your practice management system (PMS), keeping availability accurate in real time.Alert and don’t auto-sync for unmatched patients
If a patient cannot be matched in the PMS, the appointment will not sync automatically. PbN will create a new patient instead.OTP verification (optional)
Require a one-time password sent via SMS before a patient can confirm their appointment. Helpful for reducing spam and no-shows.
Days of the Week
Select which days your office accepts online bookings. This applies to all providers and visit types (e.g., deselect Saturday and Sunday if your office is closed).
Chair Selection
⚠️ Chairs must be created and configured in your PMS first. If no chairs exist there, nothing will display here.
Choose which chairs/operatories are eligible for online booking. Remove internal-use chairs to avoid conflicts.
Insurance Settings
Click Setup Insurances to select accepted insurance plans.
Add custom plans if needed.
Customize the message patients see after submitting their insurance (e.g., “Our team will verify your insurance before your appointment.”).
Provider Setup
⚠️ Providers must be:
Marked Active under Settings > Employees, and
Assigned valid hours under Settings > Office & Provider Hours, and
Configured correctly in your PMS.
For each provider, you can:
Enable or disable online booking
Assign chairs
Upload a photo and bio
Adjust availability or blockouts using Edit
Updating the Primary Provider
Go to Appointments > Settings
Add or activate the provider you want to make primary
Update the provider under your Visit Types
Visit Types
⚠️ Visit Types must be created in your PMS before they appear in PbN.
Visit Types define why a patient is scheduling (e.g., New Patient Exam, Cleaning, Emergency).
For each Visit Type, you can configure:
Name
Allowed Patients (New, Returning, or Both)
Appointment Type (Doctor, Hygiene, Consultation, etc.)
Duration
Providers & Chairs
Patient-facing Description
Examples include:
Adult/Child Cleaning
Emergency Visit
Clear Aligner Consult
New Patient Exam
Advanced Visit Type Settings
Click the gear icon next to a Visit Type to customize:
Allowed Age
Restrict appointments to specific age ranges.No Provider Selection
Patients cannot choose a provider (ideal for hygiene teams).Don’t Auto Sync
Prevents these appointments from auto-syncing to the PMS. They will appear in the Action Center for manual approval.Check Recall Date
Prevents returning patients from booking if they are not due for recall.Soonest Appointment Available
Set how soon patients can book this visit type (overrides global setting).Farthest Appointment Available
Set how far into the future patients can book (overrides global setting).
Credit Card Collection (Optional)
If you use PbN Payments, you can require patients to enter a credit card while booking—ideal for reducing no-shows or accepting deposits.
To enable:
Click Enable Credit Card Collection.
Verify PbN Payments is active on your account.
Custom Questions
Add custom questions to gather information before the appointment.
Examples:
“Are you currently in pain?”
“Preferred provider?”
“How did you hear about us?”
Click Setup Custom Questions to create, edit, or remove questions.
Appointment Availability
Configure global availability rules for your online scheduler:
Key Settings
Time Intervals: 10 or 15 minutes
Soonest Available in Days: Prevents same-day bookings
Farthest Available in Months: Limits how far ahead patients can schedule
Provider Time Availability
Must be enabled for PbN to use real provider schedules.
Use Practice and Provider Schedule From PMS
Syncs schedule data directly from your PMS—ensuring perfect alignment.
Use PMS Blocks for Visit Types (Open Dental & Dentrix)
PbN will follow the block types set in your PMS when generating available time slots.
Open Dental: Prevent Scheduling Only for Blockouts
By default, all blocks remove availability. This option limits removal to only blocks marked Block Appointment Scheduling.
Managing Day-to-Day Scheduling
Closing an Entire Day
Open your schedule
Select the date
Click Close Day
This removes all online booking availability for that date.
Blocking Specific Time Slots
Open the schedule
Choose the provider
Add a Block to the time you want to remove
No patients will be able to book during this period.
Blocking Dates Across All Providers
If closing holidays or special dates, ensure all columns (providers/locations) in Online Booking are blocked.
Blocking only one column may leave other providers open for booking.
Scheduling Link & Widget
After setup:
Go to Widgets
Copy your scheduling link
Customize widget colors
Add your booking link to:
Your website
Email or SMS
Google Business Profile
Ads and landing pages
Email signatures
Chat widgets
This is the link patients will use to self-schedule.
Multi-Location Setup
For multi-site practices:
Open Multi-Location Setup
Assign providers, chairs, and visit types per location
Generate separate booking links by location
This ensures patients book the correct office every time.
