Understanding Your Metrics for a More Profitable Practice: Lost Patients

Often lost patients aren’t lost forever. Many have not went to another dentist, or left town. They just simply haven't scheduled, and no one from the team has reached out to prompt them to do so.

What Counts As a Lost Patient? 

Lost patients, are patients that are no longer active in your practice because they have failed to come in for their continuing hygiene visits. Most times-but not all, they haven't been into your practice at all. Each practice has a different definition of when they consider a patient inactive. It is typically from 18-24 months when offices stop reaching out. We like to look at the lost patients per month to give an easy month to month comparison. But its also important to know what is referred to as attrition rate which is calculated with the following formula: [ (Lost Patients / Total Active Patients) = Attrition Rate ]
This would be used when looking at your lost patients over a longer time period, such as the calendar year. 

How to Lose Less Patients 

Schedule While They are in the Office

 The best way to ensure a patient schedules is to do so before they leave their current appointment. It is always easiest to get a patient schedule while they are in the office. 

Follow Up

We've talked about it before, but the best way not to lose patients is to follow up with them when they are not scheduled. It needs to be scheduled touch points with a set plan. 

Consistency

So often we make the mistake of only reaching out to overdue patients when our schedule is empty. When we reach out in an urgency to fill the schedule, calls are random, we're not following any set schedule, reactivating patients will be difficult. 

Mindset

When it comes to reactivating patients who haven't been in for awhile, mindset is the number one thing that makes or break your success. Strangely enough, many dental teams don't follow up with overdue patients because they feel bad about it. They worry they’ll sound pushy.

They tell themselves, “They’ll call us when they’re ready.” Or worse—“They probably found another dentist.”

But if you think you can’t schedule anyone… you simply won’t. That belief becomes your reality.

Let's flip the script: Imagine this: your hairdresser calls and says,
“Hey! I haven’t seen you in a while and just wanted to check in—how have you been? Want me to save you a spot next week?”

Would you be annoyed? Probably not. You’d probably appreciate the reminder. You might even be grateful—because life gets busy, and you just hadn’t gotten around to calling.

The same goes for your patients.They’re not avoiding you because they don’t care about their teeth. They’re just living life: kids, work, stress. Your call isn’t a nuisance. It’s a service.

You’re helping them stay healthy. You’re reminding them that someone cares enough to notice they haven’t been in. And that level of care is what builds lifelong loyalty.

If your mindset is that you are bothering people, you’ll come across that way. But if your mindset is that you’re helping people—because you are—you’ll sound confident, genuine, and kind. Your energy sets the tone. Patients feel it.

When you call, don’t think of it as a “reactivation call.”Think of it as a “care call.”

You’re checking in, not chasing. You’re saying, “Hey, we’ve been thinking about you.” That simple act shows that your office sees patients as people, not numbers. And people remember how you make them feel.

Having a system to address lost patients once they occur is another key step that will help you move out of survival mode and toward calming the chaos in your practice. 

👉If you're ready to take the first step into maximizing your profits. Start by maximizing your schedule! Click here to get your FREE step-by-step guide "5 Easy Fixes to Fill Your Schedule-Today!"