02 / Messaging
One inbox. One thread per patient.
Patient texting that belongs to the practice instead of to whoever's phone it landed on, with the chart one click away and the whole history visible to everyone who needs it.
What texting looks like without it.
- The front desk's personal cell, which walks out the door when they do.
- Three people answering the same patient because nobody could see the other replies.
- A conversation about a medication that exists only in someone's messages app.
- No record in the chart that any of it happened.
What it does instead.
Shared, not personal
Every conversation lives in the practice's inbox. New staff see the history on day one; departing staff take nothing with them.
Tied to the chart
Threads are matched to the OpenDental patient, so you're never guessing which Jennifer is texting.
Opt-outs handled properly
STOP is honored automatically and permanently. Consent state is tracked per patient, so a reminder can't go out to someone who opted out.
Drafted replies
Molar reads the thread and the chart and proposes a response. Your team approves or edits, sending is always a person's decision.
How it syncs.
Messaging is scoped per location and tied to the patient record, so the audit trail matches the practice's structure.
- Inbound numbers are per-location, a two-location practice doesn't share one thread pile.
- Delivery state is tracked per message: queued, sent, delivered, failed.
- Opt-out state is enforced before any automated send, not after.
Questions we get asked.
Is this HIPAA-safe?
Message bodies are written to avoid clinical detail, and the full thread lives in Molar rather than in SMS alone. See the security page for how patient data is handled end to end.
Can patients text the number they already know?
In most cases yes, an existing practice line can be enabled for texting. We'll check yours on the demo call.
What stops us from texting someone who opted out?
Opt-out is checked before every automated send, and STOP is processed the moment it arrives. It's enforced in the send path, not left to staff memory.