Contacts Overview

The Contacts section is where Dental Marketing Tool stores every patient and prospective patient connected to your practice. This article walks you through what the contacts screen shows, how records get created, and what you can do from this view.

What Is a Contact?

A contact is a record for any person who has interacted with your practice through Dental Marketing Tool. That includes existing patients, people who responded to an ad, anyone who called or texted your practice number, or someone you added manually. Each contact holds their name, phone number, email address, appointment history, conversation history, tags, and any custom fields your team has set up.

Because every channel feeds into the same record, your front desk sees the full picture in one place rather than piecing together information from separate systems.

Navigating the Contacts Screen

To reach your contacts, click Contacts in the main menu. You will see a list view with columns for name, phone number, email, tags, and the date the contact was created or last updated.

• Use the Search bar at the top to find a specific patient by name, phone number, or email.
• Click any column header to sort the list by that field.
• Use the Filters button to narrow results by tag, date range, source, or other criteria. For more powerful filtering, see Building Smart Lists and Filters.
• The Views dropdown lets you switch between saved smart lists you have already created.

How Contacts Are Created

Contacts can come into Dental Marketing Tool in several ways.

• Automatically from ads. When someone fills out a form connected to one of your ad campaigns, a contact record is created the moment they submit.
• Automatically from conversations. When a new patient texts or emails your practice number for the first time, the platform creates a contact record and starts a conversation thread.
• Manual entry. Your front desk can add a contact by clicking Add Contact in the upper right corner of the contacts screen.
• Import from a spreadsheet. If you are bringing over patient data from another system, you can upload a CSV file. See Adding and Importing Patients for a full walkthrough.

What You Can Do from the Contacts Screen

The contacts list is not just for looking up records. It is a working tool for your team.

Open a Patient Record

Click any contact's name to open their full patient record. From there you can view their conversation history, appointments, notes, tags, and pipeline status, and you can send a message or request a review without leaving the record.

Tag and Organize Contacts

Tags let you label contacts for quick segmentation, such as "Implant Inquiry" or "Recall Due." You can add or remove tags from individual records or apply them in bulk. Learn more in Organizing Patients with Tags.

Take Bulk Actions

Select multiple contacts using the checkboxes on the left side of the list, then use the Actions menu that appears to send a mass text or email, add a tag, or export the selected group. See Bulk Actions on Contacts for the full list of options.

Export Your List

You can download your contacts as a CSV file at any time for record-keeping or outside reporting. Apply any filters first so the export only includes the group you need, then click Export.

Keeping Your Contacts Clean

Over time you may notice duplicate records for the same patient, especially if they contacted the practice from two different phone numbers. Dental Marketing Tool includes a merge tool so you can combine those records without losing any history. See Merging Duplicate Contacts for step-by-step instructions.

Now that you have a solid picture of the contacts screen, a good next step is learning how to read and use the full patient record or how to set up smart lists so your team can quickly pull up the right patients at the right time.