Dental Intelligence offers two separate task management tools: Team Tasks in the unified Dental Intelligence dashboard and Follow Up Tasks in the Analytics Module. The functionality between these tools is different.
This article explains the Analytics Follow Up Tasks functionality and is part of the Analytics Module. Analytics Follow Up Tasks are only accessible from the Analytics-Only portal.
Analytics Hygiene Recare Follow Up Tasks are designed to capture patients who need to be scheduled or re-engaged for their next hygiene visit. However, you may sometimes notice that patients who appear to be past-due are not showing up in the Follow Up Tasks list. In most cases, this is not a bug — it reflects expected system behavior based on how Dental Intelligence Analytics reads data from your practice management system (PMS).
This article explains:
How Analytics Determines When to Generate Hygiene Recare Follow Up Tasks
Analytics evaluates each patient against data pulled from your PMS when deciding whether to create a Hygiene Recare Follow Up Task. The system is designed to act on forward-looking, accurate data — it does not independently flag patients as overdue based solely on calendar logic.
Specifically, Analytics checks two things:
Hygiene Due Date: The patient's hygiene due date is current or in the future.
No Scheduled Appointment: The patient does not already have a hygiene appointment scheduled.
If either condition is not met, Analytics will not generate a Hygiene Recare Follow Up Task for that patient.
The Two Conditions That Prevent Task Generation
Condition 1: Hygiene Due Date Is in the Past
Analytics pulls the hygiene due date directly from your PMS. If that date has already passed, Analytics will not generate a follow up task for the patient, even if the patient is clinically overdue for a hygiene visit.
Why this happens: The due date in the PMS is typically calculated based on the continuing care interval and the date of the patient's last completed hygiene visit. If your office has not updated the due date after a visit — or if the PMS has not automatically advanced it — Analytics sees a stale, past date and does not surface the patient. |
Example: A patient's last hygiene visit was in January 2024 with a 6-month recall interval. Their due date in the PMS still shows July 2024. It is now early 2025. Because the due date is in the past, Analytics will not generate a follow up task for this patient. |
Resolution: Update the patient's hygiene due date in the PMS to a current or future date. Once the PMS reflects an accurate forward-looking due date, Analytics will recognize the patient and generate the appropriate task. |
Condition 2: Patient Has a Future Hygiene Appointment
If Analytics detects that a patient already has a hygiene appointment scheduled after their due date, it assumes the follow up is unnecessary and will not create a task.
The common edge case — cancelled but not properly closed appointments: This condition can create a gap when a patient had a future appointment that was later cancelled, but the cancellation was not handled correctly in the PMS. For example, if the appointment was walked out as "completed" rather than cancelled, Analytics still sees it as an active future appointment and will not generate a follow up task. |
Example: A patient had a hygiene appointment scheduled for March 2025 that was cancelled by the office. However, the front desk marked it as "completed" when checking the patient out rather than cancelling the appointment in the PMS. Analytics still sees an appointment record for March 2025 and does not create a Hygiene Recare Follow Up Task. |
Resolution: Audit appointment records for affected patients and ensure that cancelled appointments are properly recorded as cancelled in the PMS — not marked as completed. Once corrected, Analytics will no longer see a future appointment and will generate the follow up task if the due date is also current. |
PMS-Specific Notes
Dentrix
In Dentrix, hygiene due dates are driven by the Continuing Care configuration. The due date advances based on the interval set in the continuing care record combined with the date of the patient's most recent completed hygiene procedure.
Key things to verify in Dentrix:
Confirm the continuing care interval is correctly set for each patient (e.g., 6 months, 4 months).
Verify that the last completed hygiene visit is recorded accurately — an incorrect or missing date will result in a stale due date.
If a patient's due date appears stuck in the past, manually update the continuing care due date in the patient's record.
Ensure cancelled appointments are marked with a cancellation status, not completed.
Best Practices for Maintaining Accurate Hygiene Data
To ensure patients who are due for hygiene surface correctly in your Analytics Hygiene Recare Follow Up Tasks list, follow these best practices:
After Every Hygiene Visit
Confirm the continuing care due date has advanced in the PMS. Do not assume it updates automatically — verify it is set to the correct future date.
Check that the completed procedure is recorded accurately, as this drives the due date calculation.
When Cancelling Appointments
Always cancel appointments using the correct cancellation workflow in the PMS.
Do not check out a patient or mark an appointment as completed if the visit did not occur.
If an appointment was incorrectly closed out, work with your PMS administrator to correct the record before expecting Analytics to update.
Periodic Audits
Run a list of patients with due dates more than 3–6 months in the past and review whether their records are accurate in the PMS.
Look for patients with future appointment records that may have been incorrectly closed rather than cancelled.
Troubleshooting Steps
If you've noticed that patients who appear to be past-due for their hygiene appointment are not showing up in the Follow Up Tasks list, work through the following steps:
Step 1: Check the Patient's Hygiene Due Date in the PMS
Look up the patient's continuing care / recall record in your PMS. Is the due date in the future? If the due date is in the past, this is the most likely cause. Update the patient's hygiene due date in the PMS to a current or future date. Once the PMS reflects an accurate forward-looking due date, Analytics will recognize the patient and generate the appropriate task.
Step 2: Check for Existing Future Appointments
Does the patient have a hygiene appointment scheduled for a future date? If yes, Analytics will not create a follow up task. If the appointment was cancelled but not properly recorded, correct the appointment status in the PMS.
Step 3: Allow Time for Data Sync
After any corrections in the PMS, allow up to 24 hours for Analytics to sync updated data.
Step 4: Confirm the Follow Up Tasks Configuration
Verify the patient is active and that the automatic Hygiene Recare Follow Up Task settings are configured correctly in Analytics (Settings > Follow Up Tasks > Follow Up Task Settings).
Step 5: Contact Support for Assistance
If the due date is accurate, no future appointment exists, the PMS data appears correct, and the Hygiene Recare Follow Up Task is still not being generated for a patient — please contact Dental Intelligence Support with the following information:
Patient name and ID
PMS type and version
Screenshot or confirmation of the hygiene due date in the PMS
Screenshot or confirmation that no future appointment exists
Date and time corrections were made in the PMS