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3.5.2 Dentally Capability Reference

What Dentally Does — and Where the Gaps Are

Prepared by: King Ting – IT & Operations Consultant Date: May 2026

Purpose of This Document

This reference maps the known capabilities of Dentally by Henry Schein One against the communication intelligence and engagement requirements identified in documents 3.5 and 3.5.1.

The goal is simple: do not build what Dentally already does. Focus middleware and integration investment on genuine gaps — the areas where Dentally's architecture ends and HQ visibility begins.

This document is for internal reference. It is not a full product evaluation. Capabilities are based on Dentally's public product pages, integration marketplace, and developer API documentation as at May 2026.

Section 1: What Dentally Does Natively

These features are included in the Dentally subscription and do not require additional integrations.

1.1 Appointment and Scheduling

Capability Dentally Status
Single-practice appointment diary ✅ Native
Multi-room, multi-practitioner scheduling ✅ Native
Appointment availability API ✅ Native
Short-notice / cancellation gap filling ✅ Native (Smart Short Notice)
Waiting list management ✅ Native
Session appointments (blocks, breaks, meetings) ✅ Native

1.2 Patient Communications (Per Clinic)

Capability Dentally Status
Automated SMS appointment reminders ✅ Native
Automated email appointment reminders ✅ Native
Recall reminders (dentist and hygienist) ✅ Native
Recall method preference per patient (SMS/Email/Letter/Phone) ✅ Native
Dentally Chat (in-app messaging) ✅ Native
Patient portal (online booking, forms, medical history) ✅ Native
Marketing consent flag per patient ✅ Native

1.3 Patient Data and Records

Capability Dentally Status
Full patient record management ✅ Native
Family account linking ✅ Native
Acquisition source tagging (manual) ✅ Native
Custom patient fields (2 configurable) ✅ Native
Patient stats (first/last visit, FTA history, payments) ✅ Native
Medical history with expiry warnings ✅ Native

1.4 Financial and Clinical

Capability Dentally Status
Treatment planning and invoicing ✅ Native
NHS claims management (UK) ✅ Native
Payment plans ✅ Native
Per-practitioner financial reporting (within site) ✅ Native
Real-time income and performance reports (per clinic) ✅ Native

1.5 Multi-Site Architecture

Dentally is architecturally multi-site. Each clinic is a Site within a parent Practice object. The API exposes site_id and practice_id across all endpoints, meaning data can be queried per clinic or aggregated via the API.

However, the built-in Dentally UI does not provide a native HQ-level dashboard across all sites. Reporting is accessed within the context of a single site.

Section 2: What Dentally Covers via Integrations

These capabilities require a third-party integration with Dentally. They are available through Dentally's integration marketplace.

2.1 Enhanced Reporting — My Practice Cloud (MPC)

MPC is Dentally's recommended reporting partner for practices that need more than the built-in reports.

Capability MPC Status
Customisable dashboards (KPIs, revenue, appointment flow) ✅ Via MPC
Multi-site performance comparison ✅ Via MPC
Practitioner earnings reporting (MPC Pay) ✅ Via MPC
Dentist Portal (clinician self-service view) ✅ Via MPC
Cancellation and DNA tracking dashboard ✅ Via MPC
Scheduled report distribution to team ✅ Via MPC

Note for Supreme Dental: MPC addresses financial and clinical performance reporting across sites. This is the closest Dentally's ecosystem gets to an HQ dashboard. However, MPC focuses on operational metrics — it does not cover inbound call tracking, marketing attribution, or patient communication channel intelligence.

2.2 Patient Campaign Management — nGAGE

nGAGE is Dentally's featured integration for targeted patient communication campaigns.

Capability nGAGE Status
Targeted patient communication campaigns (email/SMS) ✅ Via nGAGE
Campaign performance tracking (ROI, engagement metrics) ✅ Via nGAGE
Automated campaign workflows (ADM engine) ✅ Via nGAGE
Treatment re-engagement campaigns ✅ Via nGAGE
New patient welcome sequences ✅ Via nGAGE

Note for Supreme Dental: nGAGE covers outbound campaign management and measures campaign ROI. It does not capture inbound enquiries (calls, walk-ins, form submissions) or attribute them back to specific campaigns.

2.3 Online Reputation — Working Feedback

Capability Working Feedback Status
Post-appointment review requests (automated) ✅ Via Working Feedback
Google / NHS review aggregation ✅ Via Working Feedback
Reputation monitoring per clinic ✅ Via Working Feedback

2.4 Other Integrations

Integration Purpose
Boxly Marketing campaign execution
Zapier General workflow automation
Chairsyde Case acceptance and treatment presentation
e-Referrals NHS and private referral management
Xero Accounting
Dojo / Stripe / Worldpay Payment processing

Section 3: Confirmed Gaps — What Dentally Does Not Cover

These are the areas where the middleware and communication intelligence layer proposed in document 3.5 is justified. These gaps are not addressable by Dentally native features or its current integration partners.

Gap Why Dentally Cannot Fill It
Inbound call tracking — which calls came in, which were missed, which converted Dentally has no telephony integration or call logging. Acquisition source is a manual field.
Missed call intelligence — missed call volume, peak miss times, recovery workflows No data capture mechanism for calls that never reached the booking stage.
Walk-in enquiry capture — logging foot traffic enquiries that don't become same-day appointments Dentally's patient record only exists once a patient is created. Walk-in enquiries that leave without booking are invisible.
Marketing attribution — linking a Google Ads click or a social post to a booked appointment Dentally's acquisition source field is manually set at registration. No automatic attribution from digital channels.
Cross-clinic communication benchmarking — which clinics convert enquiries best This requires aggregating inbound enquiry data across all 20+ sites. No such dataset exists in Dentally.
HQ real-time communication dashboard — single view of all clinic communication health MPC provides financial/clinical performance dashboards but not a communication intelligence view (call volume, missed calls, campaign-to-booking conversion by clinic).
Sentiment analysis at scale — aggregating patient feedback signals across the network No native sentiment layer. Working Feedback handles review volume but not sentiment scoring or trend analysis.

Section 4: The PMS Boundary Question

"Will Dentally build these communication intelligence features themselves — or is this beyond what a PMS does?"

This is a fair strategic question. Here is a grounded answer.

PMS systems are expanding. Dentally has added campaign management (via nGAGE), enhanced reporting (via MPC), and reputation management (via Working Feedback) to its ecosystem. Henry Schein One's broader portfolio includes dental marketing and patient engagement tools. It is reasonable to expect continued feature expansion in outbound communication.

However, the HQ communication intelligence layer is architecturally different from PMS scope. PMS systems are designed to manage what happens inside a practice — from when a patient is on record to when they leave the chair. The gaps above are all about what happens before a patient is in the system: inbound calls, walk-ins, ad attribution, digital enquiries that don't convert.

These require: - Telephony integrations (call tracking platforms, VoIP APIs) - Marketing platform integrations (Google Ads, Meta, UTM attribution) - An aggregation layer across 20+ independent Dentally sites - A custom HQ dashboard not scoped to a single site

Dentally's multi-site API supports this technically (all sites queryable via site_id under one practice_id). But there is no evidence Dentally plans to build this into its product — and its integration partners (MPC, nGAGE) each solve one piece, not the full picture.

The most likely trajectory: Dentally continues expanding per-clinic communication tools (better reminders, smarter recall, richer patient portal). The cross-clinic HQ communication intelligence layer remains a custom middleware opportunity — not because Dentally is weak, but because it is not their market.

Recommendation: Before building middleware, confirm whether Supreme Dental is already subscribed to MPC and nGAGE. If not, those integrations should be activated first (lower cost, faster ROI). The custom middleware layer is justified for the inbound call tracking and attribution gap that neither MPC nor nGAGE addresses.

Section 5: Dentally API — Key Facts for Middleware Design

If Supreme Dental proceeds with a custom middleware or aggregation layer, the Dentally API supports the following, which are relevant to integration design.

API Object Relevant for Middleware
/v1/sites List all clinic sites by site_id — foundation for cross-clinic queries
/v1/appointments?site_id=X Pull appointment data per clinic for fill rate, conversion analysis
/v1/patients?site_id=X Patient acquisition and growth metrics per clinic
/v1/patients/{id}/stats Individual patient engagement history (first visit, FTA rate, total spend)
/v1/recalls Recall status and due dates — compare recall completion rates across clinics
/v1/acquisition_sources Manual acquisition source list — used for tagging how patients were acquired
Webhooks Real-time events: appointment.created, appointment.updated, patient.created — useful for triggering downstream workflows

Rate limit: 3,600 requests/hour per user. For 20+ clinics, multi-site polling requires careful API key and rate management.

Authentication: OAuth. API keys are per-practice, not per-site — one API key can query all sites under the practice umbrella.

Section 6: Quick Reference Summary

Area Use Dentally Native Use Integration Use Middleware / Custom
Per-clinic appointment management ✅
Per-clinic recall and reminders ✅
Patient records and forms ✅
Per-clinic financial reporting ✅
Multi-site performance dashboards ✅ MPC
Outbound patient campaigns ✅ nGAGE
Reputation management ✅ Working Feedback
Inbound call tracking ✅ Middleware
Missed call recovery ✅ Middleware
Walk-in enquiry capture ✅ Middleware
Marketing attribution ✅ Middleware
Cross-clinic communication benchmarking ✅ Middleware
HQ real-time communication dashboard ✅ Middleware

References