Why Today’s Referral Workflows Are Failing General Dentists

Referrals are a critical part of modern dental care. General dentists rely on trusted specialists in their communities to deliver excellent outcomes for patients — and then return them for ongoing care. In theory, the process should be smooth, collaborative, and predictable.

In practice, it’s anything but.

For many general dentists, today’s referral workflows introduce unnecessary friction, create blind spots in patient care, and add operational strain that usually gets overlooked. The problem isn’t effort or intent. It’s that the systems supporting referrals haven’t kept up with other dental workflows that have been modernized and digitized.

Every Specialist, a Different Process

One of the biggest challenges general dentists face is inconsistency.

Each specialist tends to have their own preferred referral method. Some specialists give paper pads to all the general dentists in the area — filling up drawers and requiring handwritten referral instructions. Others request that general dentists fill out a generic online form, send x-rays via email and talk on the phone to fill any gaps. You may not believe it, but some still rely on fax machines... The general dentist's office staff is expected to remember which workflow applies to which practice — and switch gears constantly throughout the day.

This fragmentation increases errors, slows things down, and makes referrals harder to track. When there’s no standardized process, accountability and visibility are compromised.

Paper Pads and Manual Busywork Drain Office Teams

Despite everything (scheduling, patient communications, payments, to name a few) being digital elsewhere, most referrals still rely on old-fashioned paperwork.

Filling out paper referral pads. Scanning them. Emailing or faxing them. Handing copies to patients as they walk out the door. Office staff spend precious time chasing forms, re-entering information, and following up manually to confirm whether a referral was received.

This busywork doesn’t improve patient care — it simply keeps the system moving. And it pulls valuable staff time away from patient-facing tasks that deserve to be prioritized.

A Disjointed Experience for Patients

From the patient’s perspective, referrals can feel confusing and disorganized.

Getting referred for a root canal or extraction isn't exactly great news for a patient to receive at a routine checkup. Putting onus of responsibility on them to call the specialist, carry paperwork, or relay information they don’t fully understand is a lot to ask. If instructions are unclear or communication breaks down, appointments get delayed or missed altogether.

It's reasonable for patients to assume their providers are aligned. When that alignment isn’t visible, confidence erodes — even if the clinical care itself is excellent.

Information Slips Through the Cracks

When referrals live across paper, email inboxes, text threads, and phone calls, information inevitably gets lost.

X-rays get separated from clinical notes. Context around urgency or symptoms disappears. Follow-up questions happen outside the patient record. Consolidating information spread across so many channels is a headache for even the most organized and efficient office managers. There’s rarely a single, complete view of the referral conversation.

For general dentists, this makes it harder to confidently manage ongoing care.

Limited Visibility Into Patient Status

Once a patient walks out of the general dentist's office for a referral, they often lose visibility.

They usually don't know whether the specialist has seen the patient, whether treatment is complete, or whether complications arose. Post-op notes frequently arrive late — or not at all — leaving gaps in documentation and planning.

This lack of real-time — or even periodic — status updates creates uncertainty for both the provider and the patient.

Delays Getting Patients Back in the Chair

All of this compounds into a final issue that impacts the general dentist's bottom line and reputation: delays.

When communication is slow or incomplete, patients don’t return to the general dentist on their regular schedule. Hygiene appointments slip. Restorative work gets postponed. Treatment plans stall.

What could've been a coordinated handoff turns into a major obstacle. An opportunity for teamwork and continuity turns out to be a bottleneck — patient experience and general dentist production are most likely to suffer.

The reality is this: general dentists who send out referrals are committed to doing the right thing. They want their patients to get the best possible care so they send them to an expert who treats their specific conditions everyday.

It's unfortunate that general dentists who refer patients out often end up as the drawing the short end of the stick — because referral workflows that have been accepted as "good enough" weren’t designed for speed, clarity, or collaboration.

Dentistry has outgrown the paper pads, one-off processes, and disconnected communication that has been the standard for decades. Until referral workflows catch up, general dentists will continue to carry the operational burden.

Sindi enables general dentists to send referrals — including patient contact information, detailed treatment instructions, x-rays and more — to any specialist, anywhere, anytime, in under a minute. We are committed to making the referral experience smoother and more collaborative for general dentists.

Want to give it a try? Check it out for free today.