A CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) is basically a smart contact list that reminds you who needs to hear from you and when. For a dental practice, that means automated recall reminders, lapsed patient win-backs, and new patient follow-ups — all running without anyone on staff thinking about them.
This guide covers marketing and communication workflows, not clinical records. Never store clinical diagnosis, treatment history, or insurance information in a general-purpose CRM like HubSpot. Use your practice management software (Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental) for clinical data. HubSpot is for contact info, recall timing, and marketing follow-up only.
| Tool | Best For | Free? | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot | Small practices that want email sequences and contact tracking free | ✓ Unlimited contacts | Free → $45/mo |
| NexHealth | Purpose-built dental CRM — integrates with Dentrix/Eaglesoft directly | ✗ Paid only | ~$300/mo |
| Weave | CRM + phone + texting all-in-one for dental offices | ✗ Paid only | Custom pricing |
| Mailchimp | Email-only CRM for recall campaigns and newsletters | ✓ Up to 500 contacts | Free → $13/mo |
Our recommendation: Start with HubSpot free for contact tracking, recall pipeline, and email automation. Upgrade to NexHealth when you are ready for direct practice management integration and more automated recall. Try HubSpot free →
Time to complete: 2 hours setup, then 30 minutes/month maintenance
Go to hubspot.com and create a free account. From your practice management software (Dentrix, Eaglesoft, etc.), export your active patient list as a CSV file. You need: first name, last name, email, phone, and last visit date.
In HubSpot, go to Contacts → Import and upload the CSV. Map the columns to HubSpot fields. Create a custom contact property called "Last Visit Date" and "Recall Due Date" (6 months after last visit).
During import, create HubSpot lists for: Active Patients (visited in 6 months), Recall Due (6–9 months since last visit), Overdue (9–12 months), and Lapsed (12+ months). These four segments will power all your automation.
In HubSpot, a "pipeline" is a visual board that tracks where each patient is in their recall journey. Create a pipeline called "Patient Recall" with these stages:
HubSpot automatically moves contacts between stages based on date logic you configure. No manual sorting needed.
In HubSpot, go to Automation → Workflows. Create a workflow triggered when a contact's "Recall Due Date" arrives. The workflow sends 3 emails automatically:
If the patient books at any point, the workflow stops automatically and the contact moves back to "Active." Try NexHealth for dental-specific recall →
Patients who have not visited in 12+ months need a different approach — not a reminder, but a reason to come back. Create a separate workflow for your "Lapsed" segment:
Add a custom field to every new patient record: "How did you hear about us?" with options: Google Search, Google Reviews, Friend/Family Referral, Insurance Directory, Nextdoor, Facebook, Other.
After 90 days, look at your referral source data in HubSpot. You will likely find that 60–80% of your best new patients came from just 1–2 sources. Double down on those and stop spending time/money on the others.
Add "How did you hear about us?" to your new patient paperwork or online intake form. Most practices never ask this, which means they keep spending money on marketing channels they cannot prove work. One field, enormous insight.
Dr. Chen runs a 2-dentist practice in San Diego with 1,800 active patients. She exported her patient list and found 340 patients had not visited in over 12 months. She loaded these into HubSpot and ran the 3-email win-back sequence over 14 days.
"I had no idea I had 340 patients I had not seen in over a year. The win-back emails basically mined money we already had. The whitening offer was the one that pushed people to actually book."
Set up HubSpot free, import your patient list, and run your first recall campaign this week. Your existing patient list is worth more than you think.
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