No-shows quietly drain a dental practice's schedule, and patients who are overdue for a cleaning rarely book themselves back in. Practices that send automated text reminders cut no-show rates from around 31% down to about 14% (source: Yapi patient-reminder no-show data, 2023). This n8n workflow runs that reminder-and-recall loop quietly in the background, without a $300-600/month platform like Weave or Solutionreach.

What it does:

1. Runs a daily check (10am) for appointments happening tomorrow and texts each patient a reminder, with an easy "reply RESCHEDULE" option

2. Runs a weekly check (Mondays) for patients who haven't visited in 6+ months and sends a warm recall SMS inviting them back in

3. Both messages are AI-drafted per patient (name, appointment/procedure, practice name)

4. Marks each patient as reminded/recalled in your Google Sheet so nobody gets double-texted

5. Full activity log so you always know who was reminded and who wasn't

What's included:

• Full n8n workflow file (.json) — import and go

• Setup guide (this document + inline notes in the workflow)

• Ready-to-use Google Sheets structure (Dental Appointments + Dental Patients Recall tabs)

• Editable AI prompts for both the reminder and recall messages

Requirements to run it:

• A running n8n instance (self-hosted or cloud)

• A Twilio account with a phone number (SMS-capable)

• A free Groq API account for the AI message drafting

• A Google account for the appointment/recall sheet