KPI Deep Dive: Broken Appointments Percentage Rescheduled

August 21, 2025

Every dental practice will face broken or short-canceled appointments.

What differentiates a good from a great practice is tracking and adjusting for broken appointments to plug “profit leaks.” Industry research shows that 5–10% of scheduled visits don’t happen, and some practices see rates as high as 15% depending on their patient base and scheduling practices.

At first glance, missed appointments seem like minor inconveniences: an empty chair here and there, some wasted preparation time, and a disruption to the daily flow. However, the actual impact goes far deeper. Missed appointments cut directly into production, delay preventive and restorative care, and erode the trust and consistency essential in long-term patient relationships.

Perhaps most concerning, data shows that 32% of patients who miss an appointment fail to return within 18 months. For a private dental practice, losing even a handful of patients like this can mean tens of thousands of dollars in lost lifetime value. This is why tracking the key performance indicator (KPI), Broken/Short-Canceled Appointments Rescheduled Percentage, is so important. Unlike raw no-show counts, this measure tells you how effectively your practice recaptures those patients and keeps them engaged in care.

The Financial Impact of Missed and Unrescheduled Appointments

Let’s look at some hypothetical numbers based on real-world scenarios.

Let’s consider a general dentist whose hygiene appointment typically generates $150 in production. If just two hygiene visits each week are broken and never rescheduled, the practice loses $300 per week. Over a year, that's $15,600 in hygiene production gone. However, the impact is higher because hygiene visits often uncover restorative or periodontal needs. If even one-third of those visits had led to additional treatment, the opportunity cost would quickly rise to $20,000–$25,000 annually.

Now let’s consider a pediatric practice, with preventive appointments that cost $100 each. If three families per week cancel and only half reschedule, that’s $150 per week in lost production. Annualized, that’s nearly $8,000 gone, not including the ripple effect of delayed diagnoses, emergency visits, and postponed orthodontic referrals. In pediatrics, broken appointments are common due to illness and busy school schedules, but a small leak becomes a significant drain without rescheduling protocols.

For orthodontists, the issue is more complex. Each adjustment appointment may be valued at $150–$200, but missing even one pushes the entire treatment back, tying up chair time for longer and reducing the number of new patients starting each year. Across a panel of 200–300 active patients, even a 5% no-show rate can translate into tens of thousands in lost capacity and delayed case completions.

Finally, consider the lifetime value of a dental patient. On average, one loyal patient brings $5,000–$15,000 in production to a solo practice over their lifetime. If just five patients leave each year because they never rescheduled, the practice has lost between $25,000 and $75,000 in long-term revenue, often without realizing it.

Benchmarks for Private Practices

Reschedule rates vary depending on specialty and patient demographics, but here are reasonable targets:

• General Dentistry: Ideally, aim to reschedule 80–90%.
  
  
• Pediatric Dentistry: Even with higher cancellation rates, proactive follow-up can increase the reschedule percentage to 70-80%.
  
  
• Orthodontics: Because each missed visit extends treatment, strive for 90–100% rescheduling.
  
  

These benchmarks are not just aspirational, they’re achievable with consistent processes, clear policies, and team accountability.

How to Track the KPI

Improvement begins with tracking. Practices should:

1. Record every broken appointment using ADA codes D9986 (missed) and D9987 (canceled).

2. Move broken appointments to an unscheduled list, instead of deleting them, so they remain visible for follow-up.

3. Run monthly reports to calculate the percentage of missed appointments that were later rebooked.

4. Review broken appointments daily in morning huddles: “Who still needs to be rebooked?”

Making this part of your daily and monthly routine ensures accountability and prevents patients from going unnoticed.

Strategies That Work

There are several ways to improve your reschedule percentage:

• Reschedule in Real Time: Don’t let a patient off the phone without offering a new appointment. Suggest specific times instead of asking open-ended questions. For example.
  
  
• Make Rescheduling Easy: Offer online scheduling, two-way texting, and short-notice options to remove barriers for patients.
  
  
• Highlight the Value of Care: Patients are more likely to rebook when they understand what's at stake, whether maintaining oral health, preventing costly future treatment, or keeping orthodontic treatment on schedule
  
  
• Use a Waitlist: Maintain an ASAP list of patients who want earlier openings. This lets you fill the empty slot immediately while rebooking the canceled patient later. For an even more strategic approach, check out our December 2024 article, Using a High-Value Short-Notice List to Fill Schedule Gaps.
  
  
• Set and Enforce Policies: Provide one warning for first-time offenders, then charge a cancellation fee or scheduling restriction for repeated no-shows. This protects the practice while encouraging accountability.
  
  
• Charge Deposits for Long Appointments: For appointments that take longer than one hour, make sure that you are charging a deposit. For more information on when and how to charge a deposit, check out our July 2024 article, Reduce Broken Appointments at Your Practice: Deposits and Incentives.

Every appointment is valuable for both patient care and practice revenue. Broken appointments are inevitable, but whether they result in lost production or delayed visits depends entirely on how well the practice tracks and responds to them. By monitoring the Broken/Short-Canceled Appointments Rescheduled Percentage, setting clear goals, and applying consistent strategies, dentists can turn a persistent challenge into an area of strength.

A strong reschedule rate, 80% or higher, means fewer patients slipping away, a healthier bottom line, and greater continuity of care. In other words, it's not just about filling chairs. It's about preserving trust, maximizing lifetime value, and ensuring long-term success for your practice and your patients.

Not sure where to start? Contact us today!

References

American Dental Association. (2022). Sample script for rescheduling canceled appointments. Retrieved from https://www.ada.org.

American Dental Association. (2023). Best practices for reducing no-shows and cancellations. Retrieved from https://www.ada.org.

Dental Intelligence. (2022). Key performance indicators for dental practices. Dental Intelligence Blog.

DentalPost. (2023). Reducing cancellations and no-shows in dentistry. Retrieved from https://www.dentalpost.net.

Dentrix Magazine. (2023). Managing broken appointments in dental practices. Dentrix.

Open Dental Software. (2024). Unscheduled list and ASAP list functions. Retrieved from https://www.opendental.com.

Ravi, K., & Thomas, D. (2020). Pediatric dental appointment adherence and parental perceptions: A survey. Journal of Clinical Pediatric Dentistry, 44(5), 317–325.

Rowe, J., & Reuland, J. (2021). The impact of missed appointments on patient attrition in healthcare settings. Patient Experience Journal, 8(3), 139–147.

Shah, S., & Ferguson, J. (2021). Orthodontic patient compliance and socioeconomic predictors of missed appointments. American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, 160(3), 323–330.

Yoder, K. M., & Clark, M. B. (2022). Using daily huddles to manage broken appointments and cancellations. Journal of Dental Practice Management, 39(4), 145–154.