If you only get to watch one number on the way to next quarter, do not watch new patients. Watch hygiene reactivation.
A reactivated hygiene patient is, on average, three times more likely to accept restorative care than a brand-new patient — they already trust the practice, the chair, and the team. They are also dramatically cheaper to put back on the schedule than a new patient is to acquire.
The cadence that works
We run a twelve-touch reactivation cadence over forty-five days: three SMS, two voicemails, one handwritten card, one email from the doctor, and so on. The first six touches recover roughly seventy percent of who is going to come back. The last six recover the rest — and produce the highest-margin restorative pipeline in the practice.