DentareDocs

SMS Messaging

Set up CommPeak SMS in Dentare to send patients appointment confirmations, reminders, cancellations, and reschedule notices.

Send automated SMS text messages to your patients - appointment confirmations, reminders, cancellations, and reschedule notices. SMS is a Pro feature, and only a clinic admin can connect it. This guide walks through the guided setup wizard, the manage view once you're connected, and disconnecting.

What You'll Need

  • A Dentare Pro subscription (SMS is a Pro feature)
  • A CommPeak account - if you don't have one yet, create one at commpeak.com, then come back to this guide
  • Your TextPeak API Key from your CommPeak dashboard (required)
  • A sender name: up to 11 letters or numbers that patients see as the sender on every text

Connect Your CommPeak Account

  1. Log in to Dentare as a clinic admin
  2. Go to Settings → Integrations
  3. Open the SMS card - this opens the guided setup wizard on its Connect CommPeak step
  4. Paste your TextPeak API Key, found in your CommPeak dashboard under TextPeak - this one is required
  5. Optionally paste your Billing API Key too - this lets Dentare show your remaining balance later, and you can add it anytime
  6. Click Connect
No CommPeak account yet? Create one at commpeak.com, then paste your TextPeak API Key here.

Choose Your Sender Name

This is what shows up as the sender on every text - up to 11 letters or numbers, no spaces.

  1. Enter a sender name
  2. Click Submit for approval
  3. A person at CommPeak reviews it, usually within a few hours. The step shows Waiting for CommPeak to approve while you wait - you don't have to stay on this step, the wizard lets you continue
  4. If CommPeak rejects the name, the step shows the reason. Try a shorter, clearer name and submit again
  5. Click Check again anytime to refresh the status without leaving the page

Once approved, the step shows Approved by CommPeak - patients will see this name.

Behind the Scenes

Dentare wires up the rest automatically - nothing to configure here. This step provisions, in order:

  • Message channel ready
  • Secure sending key created
  • Connected your Dentare clinic
  • Delivery updates
  • Cost tracking

Dentare creates a dedicated CommPeak stream, mints its sending token, and registers two webhooks so delivery status and cost flow back automatically. If any item fails, click Try again next to it - each is safe to retry on its own.

Review Templates and Turn On

Dentare prepares standard message templates for your clinic, one set per language it uses:

  • Confirmation - sent when an appointment is booked
  • Reminder - sent before an upcoming appointment
  • Cancellation - sent when an appointment is cancelled
  • Reschedule - sent when an appointment is rescheduled

Tap a template to preview it on a simulated phone screen. Edit the wording if you like, or click Reset to Dentare wording to restore the default. Each preview shows whether the text uses standard or Unicode characters and how many SMS segments it takes - Unicode and multi-segment messages cost more per send.

Click Mark the rest as read, or review each template individually. Once every template is read and your sender name is approved, click Turn on texts and confirm. Nothing sends to a patient until this step is complete.

Choose Which Messages Send

SMS is now connected. The message types you actually send by SMS are controlled separately, from Settings → Communications (https://dentare.io/clinic/settings/communications), not from the integration page.

  1. Go to Settings → Communications
  2. In the SMS section, turn on the message types you want: Confirmation, Reminder, Cancellation, Reschedule
  3. Choose the reminder timing - a relative offset before the appointment, or a fixed time on the day. This timing is shared with WhatsApp and Email
If you turn on Reminder without Confirmation on the same channel, Dentare shows a warning under the toggle. A reminder only sends to a patient who already received a confirmation on that same channel - see Communications for the full reminder-timing rules.

Managing Your Connection

Once SMS is turned on, Settings → Integrations → SMS switches to a manage view.

  • Integration details shows your provider (CommPeak), your sender ID, a Ready or Incomplete status, and when the connection was last verified.
  • Balance shows your CommPeak balance if you added a Billing API Key. Click Refresh to pull the latest figure. If CommPeak can't be reached, the balance stays at its last known value and Dentare shows a warning.
  • Test verifies Dentare can reach CommPeak with your saved credentials. A failure shows the reason CommPeak returned.
  • CommPeak credentials shows your Billing API Key and Stream API Token, masked to their last four characters. Click either one to reveal and copy it. Keep them private - they're used for API calls and dashboard configuration.
  • The template review from the last wizard step stays available here, so you can edit wording or check how many templates are active at any time.

Set Up Manually Instead

If you'd rather enter your CommPeak credentials directly instead of going through the wizard, open Set up manually instead - it's available on the wizard's first step and at the bottom of the manage view.

The manual form asks for three fields, each linking to the exact CommPeak page it comes from:

  • Billing API Key - from CommPeak's API Keys page
  • Sender ID - from CommPeak's Sender IDs page, must be approved by CommPeak before you can send
  • Stream API Token - from an existing or new CommPeak SMS Stream (use a Transactional stream)

The guided wizard only needs your TextPeak API Key - Dentare creates the CommPeak stream and mints the Stream API Token behind the scenes. The manual form is the same underlying credentials entered by hand, for clinics that already have a stream set up in CommPeak or prefer to configure the webhooks themselves.

Disconnecting SMS

Disconnecting turns off text messages and removes your CommPeak connection. You can set it up again anytime, but your sender name approval and provisioning will need to be redone.

From the manage view, click Disconnect CommPeak at the bottom of the page and confirm. This only affects SMS - WhatsApp and Email keep working independently.

Troubleshooting

"That TextPeak key didn't work" Double-check the key in your CommPeak dashboard under TextPeak. The Billing API Key is a separate, optional value - leave it out if you don't have one yet.

Sender name rejected CommPeak couldn't approve that name. Try a shorter, clearer sender name (up to 11 letters or numbers) and submit again.

A provisioning item won't finish Click Try again next to the failed item. If it keeps failing, contact support.

"Turn on texts" is disabled Either your sender name isn't approved yet, or you haven't read every template - the step shows which one is blocking you.

Balance won't update Dentare couldn't reach CommPeak, or you haven't added a Billing API Key yet. Add one under Set up manually instead, then click Refresh.

Test fails The error CommPeak returned appears in the toast message. Re-entering your Billing API Key and Stream API Token usually resolves a stale or revoked credential.

"We couldn't reach CommPeak just now" This is a temporary connection error. It's safe to retry - Dentare won't create anything twice.

On this page

What You'll NeedConnect Your CommPeak AccountChoose Your Sender NameBehind the ScenesReview Templates and Turn OnChoose Which Messages SendManaging Your ConnectionSet Up Manually InsteadDisconnecting SMSTroubleshooting