Dental practices
The phone rings while you have someone in the chair.
A practice phone is three jobs at once: somebody in pain who needs to be seen today, somebody rearranging a check-up for the third time, and somebody asking what it costs. All three ring while both of you are gloved up.
The calls you actually get
Not a feature list. These are the conversations that make the phone ring, and what happens to each one.
The one in pain
A caller who says they are in pain gets asked how bad, how long, whether there is swelling or bleeding, and whether it started after treatment. Those answers go to the practice in the order you need to read them. The agent does not tell anyone what is wrong with them.
The check-up nobody rings back about
Recall calls are the work a practice never gets to. The agent can ring a list, offer two times, and book whoever answers.
The gap a cancellation leaves
A cancellation at nine in the morning is an empty chair at two in the afternoon unless somebody works a list. That is a phone job and it is the one that pays for itself.
What does it cost
The agent quotes from your price list, says plainly when a price depends on an examination, and does not guess at insurance.
After hours
Out of hours the phone either takes a message or tells somebody in pain where to go. It should do both, and say which it is doing.
What it will not do
The list that matters more than the one above it. An agent that guesses is worse than a phone that rings out, because a guess sounds like an answer.
- Diagnose, or say whether something is serious. It collects what was said and passes it on.
- Confirm what a treatment will cost when that depends on an examination.
- Tell a caller whether their insurance covers something.
- Decide that a caller is an emergency. It reports the answers and flags the call; a person decides.
What it costs, for this kind of phone
22 calls a day, about 3 minutes each, 22 days a month. That is 1,452 connected minutes, which is the Volume plan at $500 a month.
What has to be connected
The build is the part you are paying for, and this is what it consists of.
- Your practice management system, for appointments and recalls.
- The calendar your front desk already looks at.
- A price list the agent may quote from, and a line for the parts of it that need an examination first.
- Wherever an urgent call has to land at three in the afternoon: a phone, a pager, a text, a shared inbox.
Questions
Can an AI receptionist handle dental emergencies?
It can triage one, which is not the same thing. It asks the questions you would ask, records the answers, and gets the call in front of a person quickly with those answers attached. It does not decide how urgent a case is and it gives no clinical advice, because that is not a judgement software should be making about somebody's mouth.
Will it book appointments straight into our system?
Into a calendar or practice management system it has been connected to, yes, and only for the operations you have permitted. Which systems are connected and verified is published on our integrations page rather than implied by a logo, because a connection that has not been tested end to end is not a connection.
Can it call patients back for recalls?
Yes. Outbound is part of the service: a list, two offered times, a booking for whoever answers, and a do-not-contact flag on anyone who asks not to be rung again. That suppression is real and permanent, not a preference setting.
Will patients know they are talking to a machine?
Yes, because it tells them, and because the call is recorded and it says so at the start. A practice that lets patients find that out on their own has bought itself a different problem.
Other kinds of phone
The same agent, built around a different set of calls.
The part you can check
There are no dentists on this page saying how pleased they are, because there are none yet. What there is instead: two weeks on your own line, your own callers, every call recorded and transcribed, and no card asked for.