Open Dental CSV export for reactivation campaigns — field map + gotchas

The Open Dental export endpoint

Open Dental 22.4+ includes a REST API. For CSV workflow: Reports → Patient List → Standard Filters. Set Patient Status = 'Patient' AND Last Seen < today-180d AND Appointments Future = 0. Export: Output → Export CSV.

The 9 fields you need (and the 30 you don't)

The minimum viable reactivation export:

• `PatNum` (internal patient id — primary key)
• `LName` + `FName`
• `WirelessPhone` (SMS-capable)
• `Email` (required for email touches)
• `DateLastVisit` (drives segmentation)
• `AptDateLastBroken` (if available; drives A1/A2 segmentation)
• `FirstVisit` (drives long-lapsed identification)
• `TxtMsgOk` (TCPA consent flag)

Skip procedure codes, insurance plan details, balance data — all irrelevant for reactivation and pose HIPAA risk.

3 gotchas that break imports

Gotcha 1: Open Dental stores phone numbers as US-formatted strings ('407-555-0123'). Most reactivation tools want E.164 ('+14075550123'). Convert before import or the SMS send will fail.

Gotcha 2: `TxtMsgOk` is a 3-state field (Yes / No / Unknown). If you treat Unknown as Yes, you're pre-TCPA-safe; if you treat Unknown as No, you exclude ~15-30% of your list. Industry norm: treat Unknown as No, explicitly collect consent at next visit.

Gotcha 3: `DateLastVisit` counts ANY appointment including consultations, X-ray-only, etc. If you want 'last productive visit', filter on procedure count > 0 in ProcedureLog.

Automating the export

Open Dental's REST API endpoint: `GET /api/v1/patients?filter=last_seen_lt_{date}&future_appts_eq_0`. Returns JSON. Convert to CSV for the reactivation tool. If the tool has a direct Open Dental integration ([usdpr. does](/)) you skip the CSV step entirely.

Weekly export cadence

Reactivation needs fresh data. Export weekly — Sunday night or Monday morning — and feed into the reactivation tool. A 30-day-old export means 30 days of broken appointments that haven't been worked.