How to Follow Up on Dental Treatment Plans (Philippines)

The consult went well. You showed her the X-ray, walked her through the two crowns and the root canal, and wrote the total on the back of your card. She nodded the whole way. Then, at the counter, she smiled and said it: “Pag-iisipan ko muna po, Doc.” That was five weeks ago. Your card is somewhere in her bag, or already in the trash. Nobody from the clinic has messaged her since, because nobody wrote down that she was still deciding.

How “pag-iisipan ko muna” turns into never

Take the words at face value. She wants time to check the money and talk it over at home. The trouble starts on the way out the door, and it comes from four places.

• Someone else gets a say. Maybe her husband wants to see the numbers. Maybe her brother in Dubai is paying half. Either way, the yes isn't hers alone to give.
• She took home a number, not a plan. The explanation lived in your voice and on your screen. At home, the family hears one big figure and none of the reasons behind it.
• She has questions she didn't ask. Whether she can pay in gives, whether her HMO covers any of it, how many Saturdays it will take. Hiya kept those inside during the consult, and she won't call the clinic to ask them now.
• Nobody owns the follow-up. You assume she'll call. Your front desk doesn't know a plan exists. She waits for the clinic to bring it up. So the plan sits with nobody while five weeks go by.

You can fix every one of those from your side of the counter, without pushing anyone.

Send the plan home in writing

A patient can't forward a conversation. Give her the plan in a form she can read on the jeep home and show the family that night. A good written plan covers four things:

• Each procedure on its own line, with the number of visits and the fee.
• The total and the deposit to start, so the first step has a clear price.
• How payment works, including gives if your clinic offers them, so she doesn't have to ask.
• A short note from the dentist in plain words: why this treatment, and what to keep an eye on while she decides.

Before she leaves, ask who else needs to see it. “Sino pa po ang kailangang makakita nito?” Then send the plan to her, so she can pass it to whoever is helping decide.

In HeyDenta, you build the plan on the Treatment Plans screen: each procedure with its fee and number of visits, the deposit, and a note for the patient. The total adds itself up. HeyDenta then gives you a link to send her on Messenger or SMS. She opens it on her phone and sees every procedure, the visits, each fee, the total, the deposit and your note. When she's ready, she types her full name, ticks the consent box and accepts. HeyDenta saves who signed and when.

When to follow up, and what to say

Settle the follow-up at the counter, not later. “Okay lang po ba kung mag-message kami sa Friday?” A patient who said yes to a Friday message reads that message as a promise kept. Then keep to a simple rhythm:

1. A few days after the consult, while the visit is fresh. Send the plan again and invite questions from her or the family.
2. After her next payday, when the money question has a real answer. Offer the deposit or the first visit as the next step.
3. About a month in, one last message. If the dentist agrees the work can be split, offer a smaller start, or a payment plan. Then let it rest.

Each message carries something new, and that's what keeps it from feeling like a chase. If the third one gets no reply, note it on her record and raise the plan again at her next cleaning.

Messages you can copy

A few days later, in Taglish: “Hi [Name], si [your name] po ito from [Clinic]. Eto po ulit yung treatment plan na in-explain ni Doc, para mabasa niyo po sa bahay: [link]. Kung may tanong po kayo o ang family niyo, reply lang po kayo dito.”

After payday, in English: “Hi [Name], it's [your name] from [Clinic], following up on your treatment plan. If you'd like to start, we can book your first visit this week. If paying in gives would help, tell us and we'll check with Doc.”

The last one, in Taglish: “Hi [Name], last check lang po sa treatment plan niyo. Walang pressure po. Nandito lang po yung plan, at pwede po nating balikan sa next visit niyo.”

When she replies ready to book, Aria can take it from there on Messenger, Instagram or your website chat, and put the first visit in your schedule at any hour.

Keep one list of who's still deciding

Memory works until the week your assistant calls in sick. Put every plan on one list and give each a status: sent, signed, deposit paid. Then, on a slow afternoon, you can see who's waiting and since when.

HeyDenta keeps that list under “Your treatment plans.” Tap Sent to see every plan the patient hasn't signed yet, with the date you made it. A signed plan shows who signed and on which day, plus a Mark deposit paid button for when the money comes in. When someone messages back, search their name and copy their link again.

A notebook page with the same three statuses works too. Give it one owner and one day a week to check it.

Won't following up feel pushy?

Only when the message asks for something and brings nothing. A follow-up with the plan, an answer or an easier first step reads as service, and the patient who agreed to hear from you on Friday is expecting it.

Hiya runs both ways here. The patient is shy to bring up money, and your team is shy to bring up the plan. One side has to go first. Let it be the clinic, in writing, so nobody has to bring up money face to face.

Where follow-up does cross the line:

• Deadlines you made up. A “promo until Friday” that doesn't exist teaches patients to ignore your next message.
• Scare lines about the tooth. What waiting means for her mouth is the dentist's call, in the dentist's own words, in the plan note.
• Messages every day. Three, spread over a month, is enough.
• Anything in public. Treatment and money belong in a private message to the patient, never a group chat or a comment thread.

When a patient says no, or “next year na lang po,” thank her and stop. Note it on her record so nobody messages her again by mistake.

What it costs

Treatment plans come with HeyDenta's Solo plan, ₱1,990/month, with a 14-day free trial and no card to start. The trial includes treatment plans, so you can send your first ones before you pay anything. Pay yearly and get two months free.

Solo also includes payment plans, for patients who'd rather pay in gives. HeyDenta doesn't take the deposit itself: patients pay your clinic directly, by GCash or at the counter, and you tap Mark deposit paid when it arrives.

Set the monthly fee against one plan that would have stalled and didn't. Built in the Philippines. Aria answers patients in English, Tagalog and Taglish.

Common questions