SMS text messageing

Artyom · Post by **Artyom** » Sun Jan 24, 2010 11:18 am

Can OD work with any kind of online text messaging software or web site in order to send (manually) text messages to patients. If not are you looking to integrate smth alike anytime soon? Thank you

Post by **jordansparks** » Sun Jan 24, 2010 3:38 pm

I think it is an existing feature request. I don't think I would call it a high priority at the moment.

rhaber123 · Post by **rhaber123** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 3:47 pm

Re: How to send SMS TEXT MESSAGING from Open Dental.

Open dental has the ability to send emails (recall reminders, confirmations, etc…) and it is an excellent feature.
In Open Dental, you can enter an email address for your patient in the Patient Information section.

As you know, every cell number can be converted to an email address and used to send an SMS message.
Below are some samples of Provider cell number converted to E-mail address for SMS messaging:

Verizon (10 digit number @vtext.com),
AT&T (10 digit number @txt.att.com),
SprintPCS (10 digit number@ messaging.sprintpcs.com),
T-Mobile (10 digit number@ tmomail.com),
Virgin Mobile (10 digit number @mobl.com),
SprintNextel (10 digit number @messaging.nextel.com)

In Open Dental, we enter 2 (two) email addresses separated by comma in the Email section:
1-the patient email address and
2- the cell phone number converted to Email
both separated by comma and a space; for example:
E-mail: sample@hotmail.com, 1234567890@vtext.com

We present this small update slip to “ALL” of our patients as an update of personal information.

Last Name: ____________________ First Name_________________________
Email address: _______________________________________________________
Wireless Phone: (_____ )_______________
if you would like to receive Text Messaging :
Wireless Phone Carrier: OVerizon OAT&T OT-Mobile OMetro PCS 0Sprint ONextel
Other Wireless Carrier _____________________________________________

The following links below will help you to convert a cell phone number to an email address:
1- http://freesms.1888usa.com/
2- http://www.groovypost.com/howto/geek-st ... ng-e-mail/
(for international users, read the last post in this link, for the international SMS conversion)

Generally, in our area, most of our patients have one of the five main cell phone carriers above.
But you can make your own list.

and the best part is it is FREE.
You can have your custom messages preset in Open Dental and
send them both as an email , and SMS.

And you can try to get "Google Voice", it offers free phone number and free SMS.

Richard Haber

***** remember that an SMS message is limited to 120 to 160 characters, depending on the cell phone carrier.

drtech · Post by **drtech** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 6:12 pm

cool Idea, didn't know it was possible!

Post by **jordansparks** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 7:11 pm

That was a good post. I had been thinking of using an SMS gateway of some kind, but using email would be better. Your suggestion makes it much more likely for SMS to be implemented more quickly. The obvious way for us to handle it is to have a table that stores the email gateways for each carrier. Then a field next to the wireless number to set the carrier, and away we go.

rhaber123 · Post by **rhaber123** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 11:43 am

Jordan,

When you decide you want to implement that, it might be helpful if we can pick multiple carrier and not a single carrier, (up to 3 carriers for example)
Reason is, if you do not know the patient's cell carrier, you can send the email to these 3 carriers , 1 will go through , and 2 will bounce back,
and than eliminate the ones that bounce back.

Just an idea!!

Richard Haber

Rickliftig · Post by **Rickliftig** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:20 pm

Thanks Richard - great post!

Rickliftig · Post by **Rickliftig** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:55 am

from the http://freesms.1888usa.com website:

Note the Cingular/ATT address is att.net as opposed to att.com

Virgin Mobile 125 characters phone#@vmobl.com
Beyond GSM 160 characters phone#@txt.att.net Search
Cingular ATT 160 characters phone#@txt.att.net Search
Verizon 160 characters phone#@vtext.com Search
Centennial 160 characters phone#@cwemail.com Search
Cellular South 150 characters phone#@csouth1.com Search
Cinncinatti Bell 50 characters phone#@gocbw.com Search
Boost Mobile 140 characters phone#@myboostmobile.com Search
Trac fone 140 characters Tracfone uses several carriers, CLICK HERE to identify the carrier, then use that carriers link Search
Nextel 140 characters phone#@messaging.nextel.com N/A
Sprint 160 characters phone#@messaging.sprintpcs.com N/A
Tmobile 140 characters phone#@tmomail.net N/A
Airvoice 100 characters GSM:phone#@txt.att.net
CDMA:phone#@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Search
Alltel 140 characters phone#@message.alltel.com Search
Qwest 185 characters phone#@qwestmp.com N/A
MetroPCS 185 characters phone#@mymetropcs.com Search
Cricket 143 characters phone#mms.mycricket.com

Canada
Bell 140 characters phone#@txt.bellmobility.ca N/A
Telus 140 characters phone#@msg.telus.com N/A
Rogers 125 characters phone#@pcs.rogers.com N/A
Fido 155 characters phone#@fido.ca

Rickliftig · Post by **Rickliftig** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 2:05 pm

I must've sent myself 7 or 8 texts today while showing everyone Open Dental's latest 'feature'! So easy!

Debbie OD Support · Post by **Debbie OD Support** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 2:13 pm

I think this is great!!! I also was texting Nathan Sparks today to test it out. I thought it was neat that when he text me back it went to my email.

rhaber123 · Post by **rhaber123** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:33 pm

I think Verizon and many wireless carrier has an option where an email / SMS can be sent to a land line.
The email / SMS will be converted to a voice message and read to the patient when they pick the phone, (by using the text-to-speech technology).

This is an option for older patients who do not like to receive emails, or SMS.

https://text1.vzw.com/text/jsp/txt2Land ... erview.jsp
http://wirelesssupport.verizon.com/faqs ... e.html?t=5

You pay per message from $0.00 to $0.25 , all depend on the cell phone company.
The best is to contact your cell phone carrier and ask them about the service and the cost.

Many cell phone carrier offer this service now.

Richard Haber

***I think the most important thing to do now is to be sure that our staff are collecting this information, and that they are entering it in the patients records.

alhalwachi · Post by **alhalwachi** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 9:15 am

I live in Bahrain (Middle east), we have 3 operators:

Batelco - Bahrain Telecomunication Company
Viva
Zain

How can i get the "international SMS conversion"?

rhaber123 · Post by **rhaber123** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 12:37 pm

in Bahrain, contact the cell phone companies, and they will help you

Hersheydmd · Post by **Hersheydmd** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 9:36 pm

Richard,

Great idea, I am going to try it.

Rob

alhalwachi · Post by **alhalwachi** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 10:56 am

any clues for my question?

Hersheydmd · Post by **Hersheydmd** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 5:30 am

alhalwachi wrote:any clues for my question?

Call those companies and ask if they have an e-mail gateway.

Karrie000 · Post by **Karrie000** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:16 pm

Richard,
Thank you so much for your post. I didn't know what I was going to do when Dental Senders starts to charge $150 to send out email and text reminders. Now I can do it for free in open dental, I had no idea that this was possible until I saw your post. So Quick and easy!!! Thanks again!!! Karrie

pgor · Post by **pgor** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 2:14 am

I think that e-mail gateways provided by phone companies as described above, are not available in all countries. I have overcome this problem by using a bulk sms supplier who can send SMS messages using email. My service gives me an e-mail address which incorporates the patients mobile phone number, we put that in the e-mail field in OD and send reminders, recalls etc by e-mail and the sms supplier receives the e-mails and sends them as SMS messages to the mobile nos in the e-mail address. This allows me to refine the service to suit my needs; e.g. the supplier web interface alows me to set days and times when I do not want sms messages to be sent. All appt reminders are sent between 6-8 pm evening before appt, Monday reminders are sent on Sunday etc.
Incidentally, who pays for the SMS when it is sent via e-mail gateway by phone companies in the USA, hardly the sender because it is sent as an e-mail, is it a free service or does the receiver pay?

Hersheydmd · Post by **Hersheydmd** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 9:00 am

No one pays, unless the receiver has a plan where they pay for each text message (usually 10¢ a piece) separately.

I've been using Richard's suggestion for a few days. One problem I noticed: if you set up everyone's e-mail address with both their e-mail and cell phone addresses, then every time you send them an e-mail it also goes to their cell phone, whether you want it to or not. It's ok for short appt reminder messages, but some e-mails are quite long, and come in as multiple text messages. I sent myself a test e-mail and it came through broken up as three text messages - 1 of 3, 2 of 3, and 3 of 3. You may want to send only an e-mail to a group of patients, but you won't be able to.

That is why I can't wait for OD to have a separate field and command buttons for sending texts by e-mail. It would be better not to enter the cell phone number & gateway into a single e-mail field. What we really need is a drop-down carrier field next to the cell phone number; then in the confirmation window, buttons to choose whether to send e-mails to the e-mail address or to the cell phone gateway or both. The cell phone command should be able to concatenate the cell phone number with the carrier gateway. There shouldn't be any need to enter the cell phone address in two different fields.

Hersheydmd · Post by **Hersheydmd** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:32 am

So, I added a patient field (drop down) for the cell phone carrier, and I put in the most common carriers in our area.
It would be even nicer, if the field were on the Edit Patient Information window, next to or below the Wireless phone field.

vjc · Post by **vjc** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 8:06 am

Just a thought. Is it possible to do it this way.

1. Connect your phone to PC via data cable or usb.
2. Have a dedicated SMS button (like the E-mail button) which would open another window (like it does for email)
3. Have templates (again like those of emails) and compose your message.
4. Have a bridge between OD and the cell phone's software. (Like we have a bridge for various digital x-rays) And use it for sending messages.
And go from there using your cell phone as a personal dedicated gateway.

Where I live an sms costs barely 0.5 cents per message (200 sms for $1). Hence most of the softwares sold here have SMS functionality. OD scores much above all of them in all fields except for this SMS functionality. Hopefully it will catch up in this department too pretty soon.

Post by **jordansparks** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 7:22 pm

Hmm. You're saying that you are aware of desktop software that communicate with your phone over a cable? If that is the case, it does seem like the cheapest solution I've heard so far. Web-based SMS gateways charge around 20 to 30 cents each. I've heard of people sending tens of thousands of text messages in a months, so the carriers don't seem to mind the volume. We'll research it.

Post by **jordansparks** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 7:44 pm

Basic research is done. The sending rate through a phone connected to the PC by cable is about 6 to 10 messages per minute.

And then I found free sms gateway software:
http://www.kannel.org/

Hersheydmd · Post by **Hersheydmd** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 8:34 pm

jordansparks wrote:Basic research is done. The sending rate through a phone connected to the PC by cable is about 6 to 10 messages per minute.

And then I found free sms gateway software:
http://www.kannel.org/

Jordan,
What does this mean to us users?

Post by **jordansparks** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 4:44 am

Nothing yet.

vjc · Post by **vjc** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 8:23 am

Hi Jordan,
As you said, I am aware of a software that can communicate with a cell phone over a cable or even a bluetooth (if phone and pc both have it).
I have a Nokia phone and the software for this is Nokia Ovi Suite which is available for free download at the Nokia website.
I have used it at times to send messages from PC (when my phone is connected to it) as I find it much more convenient to type on a PC than a phone.
Nokia europe website explains in detail how this can be done.
http://europe.nokia.com/support/downloa ... t-messages
This particular software would work only with Nokia phones.
Before this, I had a Motorola phone and it had a software called Motorola phone tools. I can not recall exactly but I think it could also send sms from a PC. A current Motorola user may confirm this however.
I do think other cellphone manufacturers would have a similar software for their respective phones. Even if they don't have, I think to add sms functionality to OD, one can even buy a cheap Nokia phone dedicated for this purpose only.

vjc · Post by **vjc** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:47 am

I found a webpage that gives a list of free softwares that can communicate with cell phones connected to PC via a cable. The list is categorized for non-developers and developers. I dont know if any of those can be made to work with OD but here is the link.
http://www.developershome.com/sms/freeLibForSMS.asp
Kannel, that Jordan had found is listed at the top under developers category.

vjc · Post by **vjc** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:14 am

Recently I visited one of my colleagues' office. The software that he is using has an automated SMS function with no manual intervention required for many SMS services.

For example, a patient makes a call to schedule an appointment. The front office picks up the phone, takes necassary information and schedules an appointment for the patient. In a few minutes the patient gets an SMS on his phone confirming the date and time scheduled for his appointment.
Then on the scheduled day of his appointment, the patient gets another SMS 2 hrs prior to his appointment time giving him a reminder for his appointment (time interval of 2hrs set once by my colleague).

My friend says that it has made a significant reduction in no shows.

None of this required any intervention by the front office or anyone else as it is built into the software.

I feel SMS reminders for scheduled appointments are a much better way than an email, as one is more likely to carry cell phone most of the times compared to a laptop with web access; and not everyone has a web enabled and web connected phone to check emails, but an SMS is always accessible, even when on the move.

My friend's software is a web based one and it uses an SMS gateway from the software host probably. It can not use a cell phone connected to PC as of now, but I feel that if that can work it would reduce the costs drastically.

drtech · Post by **drtech** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:15 am

I think getting SMS texting built into OD would be a fantastic addition and a very useful tool for everyone to reduce no shows...

It would need to have a option to exclude people from getting texts if they request it....

asanders · Post by **asanders** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:23 pm

Agreed. I would love at least the capability to send texts and/or e-mails for reminders for Monday appointments. If it could be integrated with the patient's preferred contact method that would be great, especially for working recall. e.g. If a patient prefers to be contacted via text, then instead of a postcard, they get a text. That kind of thing.

Hersheydmd · Post by **Hersheydmd** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:38 pm

Sending text to cellphone is working very well for me. I add the cellphone address to the e-mail field (eg. e-mail@e-mail.com, 1234567890@vtext.com).
The same message goes to both the pt's e-mail address and their cell phone. A nice addition would be to have separate fields and the ability to choose to send to one or the other or both, but it isn't that big a deal. A more important addition would be to have more than one confirmation message, and eventually even some automation in the confirmations.

rhaber123 · Post by **rhaber123** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 2:27 pm

Hersheydmd- I am very interested in how you configured this and how you utilize it. Where did you set up the custom field and drop-down list?
Thanks

Hersheydmd · Post by **Hersheydmd** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 6:46 pm

rhaber123 wrote:Hersheydmd- I am very interested in how you configured this and how you utilize it. Where did you set up the custom field and drop-down list?
Thanks

To set up a new Cell Phone Carrier patient field go to SETUP --> PATIENT FIELD DEFS --> ADD --> field name = CELL PHONE CARRIER -> field type = PICKLIST --> type your list, one carrier per line.

You need to know the e-mail address for each carrier you listed and put it on an index card.
Verizon (10 digit number @vtext.com),
AT&T (10 digit number @txt.att.net),
SprintPCS (10 digit number@ messaging.sprintpcs.com),
T-Mobile (10 digit number@ tmomail.net),
Virgin Mobile (10 digit number @mobl.com),
SprintNextel (10 digit number @messaging.nextel.com)

In Open Dental, we enter 2 (two) email addresses separated by comma in the Email section:
1-the patient email address and
2- the cell phone number converted to Email
both separated by comma and a space; for example:
E-mail: sample@hotmail.com, 1234567890@vtext.com

HOPE THIS HELPS[/quote]

vjc · Post by **vjc** » Sun May 01, 2011 9:37 am

jordansparks wrote:Hmm. You're saying that you are aware of desktop software that communicate with your phone over a cable? If that is the case, it does seem like the cheapest solution I've heard so far. Web-based SMS gateways charge around 20 to 30 cents each. I've heard of people sending tens of thousands of text messages in a months, so the carriers don't seem to mind the volume. We'll research it.

I found another free software from Microsoft that can communicate with cellphones over a cable. It is independent of the cell phone brand, you only need to have the driver for your phone installed. It was made by Microsoft for Win XP but I have used it on Win 7 and Vista without any issues.
I think if a bridge could be made between OD and this software, we can have our own personal SMS gateway enabling manual or if possible automated appointment reminders thru text messages and reduce the ever bugging no shows.
It is available for free download at the Microsoft website at the following link.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/d ... b9041924a2

Hersheydmd · Post by **Hersheydmd** » Sun May 01, 2011 2:18 pm

I found another free software from Microsoft that can communicate with cellphones over a cable. It is independent of the cell phone brand, you only need to have the driver for your phone installed. It was made by Microsoft for Win XP but I have used it on Win 7 and Vista without any issues.
I think if a bridge could be made between OD and this software, we can have our own personal SMS gateway enabling manual or if possible automated appointment reminders thru text messages and reduce the ever bugging no shows.
It is available for free download at the Microsoft website at the following link.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/d ... b9041924a2

I went to that Microsoft page. I don't understand how you connect your phone to your computer. What exactly is the process by which you send an SMS this way? Do you have to do anything on the phone, or is it all done from the computer?
What is the advantage of this compared with sending an SMS through an e-mail gateway as demonstated above?

vjc · Post by **vjc** » Thu May 05, 2011 7:01 am

Hersheydmd wrote:I went to that Microsoft page. I don't understand how you connect your phone to your computer. What exactly is the process by which you send an SMS this way? Do you have to do anything on the phone, or is it all done from the computer?
What is the advantage of this compared with sending an SMS through an e-mail gateway as demonstated above?

Advantages
1. No need to know the carrier for any number. Some patients found it odd when we asked them about the carrier.
2. No need to keep a track if the patient switched his carrier while retaining his number.
3. No need to update hundreds or thousands of existing patients' database with carrier. A lot of time and effort saved.
4. Everytime you email, pt will get only email, and not an SMS as his email field has only his email address.
5.If a bridge could be made between OD and SMS sender, maybe we can have an automated SMS functionality where OD will send a reminder SMS to scheduled patients from appointment module at a predetermined interval prior to their scheduled appointment time. Patients on the move may not have access to email but generally they carry their cell phones all the time. This feature is not available with OD right now but I wish it would be some day. There are some softwares doing it right now but they are not as good as OD in other features.

A phone can be connected to PC with a Data cable, generally sold seperately, or bluetooth if both your phone and PC have it. All messaging is done on PC, not on the phone. You must have driver for your phone installed prior to installing SMS sender. See my uploaded image link below where you can see it has detected my phone under "available devices". You have to do nothing on the phone, it is all done from the computer.

The disadvantage is that you have to pay for each SMS as per your carrier plan. But then there are very cheap plans tailored for people wanting to send a lot of SMSes. Even if you send say 30 reminder SMS in a day and convert one no show into a show, it is well worth it.
I have uploaded an image from my PC running Win 7
1.jpg - 99.3 KB

Hersheydmd · Post by **Hersheydmd** » Fri May 06, 2011 12:50 am

vjc wrote: 1. No need to know the carrier for any number. Some patients found it odd when we asked them about the carrier.
TRUE
2. No need to keep a track if the patient switched his carrier while retaining his number.
TRUE
3. No need to update hundreds or thousands of existing patients' database with carrier. A lot of time and effort saved.
TRUE
4. Everytime you email, pt will get only email, and not an SMS as his email field has only his email address.
IF YOU STORE BOTH EMAIL AND SMS# SEPARATED BY A COMMA, THEY WILL GET BOTH SIMULTANEOUSLY
5.If a bridge could be made between OD and SMS sender, maybe we can have an automated SMS functionality where OD will send a reminder SMS to scheduled patients from appointment module at a predetermined interval prior to their scheduled appointment time. Patients on the move may not have access to email but generally they carry their cell phones all the time. This feature is not available with OD right now but I wish it would be some day. There are some softwares doing it right now but they are not as good as OD in other features.
THIS WOULD BE AN AWESOME DEVELOPMENT

The disadvantage is that you have to pay for each SMS as per your carrier plan. But then there are very cheap plans tailored for people wanting to send a lot of SMSes.
IS SMS THE SAME AS TEXTING? IF YOU PAY A FLAT MONTHY FEE FOR TEXT MESSAGING, THEN ALL THE SMS MESSAGES WOULD BE FREE, CORRECT?
1.jpg - 99.3 KB

vjc · Post by **vjc** » Sat May 07, 2011 9:21 pm

[quote="Hersheydmd"][quote="vjc"]
1. No need to know the carrier for any number. Some patients found it odd when we asked them about the carrier.
TRUE
2. No need to keep a track if the patient switched his carrier while retaining his number.
TRUE
3. No need to update hundreds or thousands of existing patients' database with carrier. A lot of time and effort saved.
TRUE
4. Everytime you email, pt will get only email, and not an SMS as his email field has only his email address.
IF YOU STORE BOTH EMAIL AND SMS# SEPARATED BY A COMMA, THEY WILL GET BOTH SIMULTANEOUSLY
5.If a bridge could be made between OD and SMS sender, maybe we can have an automated SMS functionality where OD will send a reminder SMS to scheduled patients from appointment module at a predetermined interval prior to their scheduled appointment time. Patients on the move may not have access to email but generally they carry their cell phones all the time. This feature is not available with OD right now but I wish it would be some day. There are some softwares doing it right now but they are not as good as OD in other features.
THIS WOULD BE AN AWESOME DEVELOPMENT

The disadvantage is that you have to pay for each SMS as per your carrier plan. But then there are very cheap plans tailored for people wanting to send a lot of SMSes.
IS SMS THE SAME AS TEXTING? IF YOU PAY A FLAT MONTHY FEE FOR TEXT MESSAGING, THEN ALL THE SMS MESSAGES WOULD BE FREE, CORRECT?[quote]

SMS is the same as texting.
For #4 above IF YOU STORE BOTH EMAIL AND SMS# SEPARATED BY A COMMA, THEY WILL GET BOTH SIMULTANEOUSLY what I meant was we can have email and message seperated for each patient. So if a pt opts for an email notification only we wont end up sending him a text message.
Some carriers do offer monthly fee plans as you mentioned and work out pretty cheap.

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Sun May 08, 2011 5:05 am

This is great! I notice that the program does not formally support Windows 7 but you seem to be running it without issue. I will give it a spin but you might want to post a Step by Step for all forum members. Of course, integration into OD should be the long term goal.

vjc · Post by **vjc** » Sun May 08, 2011 9:22 am

Jay wrote:This is great! I notice that the program does not formally support Windows 7 but you seem to be running it without issue. I will give it a spin but you might want to post a Step by Step for all forum members. Of course, integration into OD should be the long term goal.

Yes I am running it on Win 7 on my desktop and Vista on my laptop without any issues. It is a very small file to download, I think about 650kb only. Simple and fast to install. You do not even have to set the compatibility mode or anything. Works without a fuss.

Here are the steps again.

1. Install your phone driver from the CD that came with the phone or from manufacturer website.
2. Connect phone with the PC either with USB data cable or bluetooth. (data cable generally sold seperately).
3. Download and install Microsoft SMS Sender from Microsoft site (Free, link given in my previous post)

And you are good to go. SMS sender detected all the three different brands of phones that I tried using this way. I could even connect multiple phone at the same time and choose which one to use.

The window of SMS sender is self explanatory and simple and needs no instructions.
This way you can have own personal low cost SMS gateway right inside your office.

Imagine this: A patient calls up to schedule his appointment. The front office picks up the phone, takes all the relevant details and schedules an appointment. Patient hangs up the phone. Immediately OD sends him an SMS confirming his date and time of appointment.(Automated by OD from the appointment module). Since the patient called up, we could not give him an appointment card. But now since he has an sms in his always accessible phone, he can possibly refer back in case he forgot the exact time/date. Then on the day of his scheduled appointment he gets another sms 2 hours prior to his scheduled time reminding him of his appointment. (Automated again). This gives him time to be there for the appointment. Or if he is not able to make it, he is more likely to call up and inform at least. An opprtunity for us to fit the waiting walk in patient into our schedule.

I feel this is likely to bring down the number of no shows which are a burden for every practice.

I know of one software which already has this feature using a web based sms gateway which works out more expensive. The more patients you schedule or reschedule the more you have to pay. Moreover the charting and other features are nowhere close to OD.

Integration of this into OD would give us an SMS gateway where we determine the price we pay for messages.
Wishful thinking. Hope it will be true some day.

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Sun May 08, 2011 7:30 pm

I am getting an SMS Sender Error box. It says, " This application is designed to run on Windows XP and later releases." I am running Windows 7 32 bit.

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Sun May 08, 2011 7:34 pm

maybe you are running it in XP compatibility mode

sandi · Post by **sandi** » Wed May 11, 2011 4:42 am

Ozeki sms works 100% and is already compatible with OD, no bridge needed. I shall set it up definatively in the next week or so and report back exact results.

vjc · Post by **vjc** » Sat May 14, 2011 3:08 am

Jay wrote:maybe you are running it in XP compatibility mode

I am running it on Win 7 32 bit without any compatibility mode. But when I tried to install it on a friend's system using 64 bit version, I had to run it in XP compatibilty mode, but it worked fine after that.

Roy Bloom · Post by **Roy Bloom** » Sat May 14, 2011 9:34 am

mine is mms@att.net The oofices just enter ny phone number with this on the end and email their message, They also use it so I can just hit the number of the patient I have seen at their office and it dials and the hands free BT takes over and tunes the music off in the Truck.

Roy

AT&T (10 digit number @txt.att.com),

Joseph Laudie · Post by **Joseph Laudie** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 5:27 am

This topic is somewhat old; however, I too think that texting within Open Dental is a very needed feature...where are we at with automating texting within Open Dental?

Post by **jordansparks** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:31 am

It's feature request 1275, which is near the top. I'm sorry, I can't give any estimates on when we will be able to add it.

Roy Bloom · Post by **Roy Bloom** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 6:03 am

This has been the greeting on my iphone for years. I use mms@att.net. I rarely answer the phone but respond to text messages quickly. For example I just made the mistake of answering the phone and it was a sales pitch for investing. 8323737041@mms.att.net

Hersheydmd · Post by **Hersheydmd** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 12:31 pm

jordansparks wrote:It's feature request 1275, which is near the top. I'm sorry, I can't give any estimates on when we will be able to add it.

Jordan there is also an older feature request #1192, which should be merged with 1275. They are essentially the same.

vjc · Post by **vjc** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 2:06 pm

jordansparks wrote:It's feature request 1275, which is near the top. I'm sorry, I can't give any estimates on when we will be able to add it.

I just hope that whenever it is implemented it is something independent of any web based gateway and uses connection to our cell phones to do that (using Kennel or Microsoft SMS sender or something like that). It will have a universal application (can be used in any country of the world as it is independent of a gateway) and will be much cheaper for us users.
By the way I found out messaging rates for some of the carriers. Here they are
AT&T
$10 per month-1000 messages (1 cent per msg)
$20 per month-Unlimited messaging

Verizon
$5 per month-250 messgaes (2 cents per msg)
$10 per month-500 messages (2 cents per msg)
$20 per month-5000 messages (0.04 cents per msg)

vjc · Post by **vjc** » Tue Nov 01, 2011 8:41 am

By the way, I found another software for sending text messages using cellphone as a modem. It is called "SMS Caster E-Marketer". I used the trial version and found it better than Microsoft SMS sender in following ways.
1. Compatible with Win 7
2. Compatible with both GSM and CDMA phones.
3. Most importantly, it can send messages in a bulk. (Microsoft SMS sender can not do that). It may work good for some specific campaigns or Christmas greetings etc. After sending a message to everyone in our office as a trial, we sent 700 text messages to our some selected patients. The input time from our staff was less than 5 minutes including exporting phone number list from OD to excel, converting it to doc file and pasting the numbers in this software.
The phone numbers have to seperated by ; followed by space. We did not know this and it took us a good 1 hour to figure this out. The documentation is not very good as we did not find this anywhere, but once we knew it, everything was a breeze.
The total time taken by the software to send 700 messages was perhaps approx 1 hour (this is a guess honestly as nobody was watching it all the time).
We have decided to go ahead with the registered version now.

peterskuben · Post by **peterskuben** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 6:44 pm

I was wondering if we could somehow utilize this free universal texting application with sending patient texts in OD. It claims to send Free Texts to any mobile phone in the world.

http://lifehacker.com/5862753/jaxtrsms- ... -the-world

Post by **jordansparks** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 9:56 pm

But it looks like just an app, without any SDK or any means for being controlled programmatically.

Roy A Bloom · Post by **Roy A Bloom** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 6:23 pm

For an iPhone I use MMS

number@mms.att.net

Most users have unlimited text plans. I do not do this often. Mostly the offices use it to send me a text with the patient names and phone numbers, which I just touch on the screen and it calls. Makes my postop calls easier. Can even call on the way home at the end of the day as the phone is bluetoothed in the truck and I can talk without holding the phone. Hit a light dial a number by touching the screen. Also shows up on line item on bill. I think with SIRI on the 4S I may be able to set it up so I do not even have to wait for a stop light. Also, patients text me all the time. It is just more efficient if they have a question.

Angriukas · Post by **Angriukas** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 4:16 am

One more suggestion how to work with SMS:
GSM modem are attached in to PC's USB port.
One or two days before visit - dental software are sending reminders (text messages) as SMS via GSM modem for patient.
The patient have ability to send SMS back with confirmation for visit in form YES/NO.
Dental software are reading incoming SMS from GSM modem and automatically change visit status for that patient in the database.
The module responsible for this function can be created as windows service (will be independent from UI).
There is possibility to configure when to send SMS (in working hours, exclude weekends and etc) for all patients or each patient individually.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 4:03 pm

Open Dental now offers Integrated Text Messaging. This feature is built directly into Open Dental and allows two way texting, automated recall reminders, and is priced competitively. For more information read the Integrated Texting page in our manual. http://opendental.com/manual/textintegrated.html.