Vertical · Dental Practices

Your front desk, never overwhelmed.

After-hours emergencies, recall calls, new-patient intake, insurance Qs — handled by an AI receptionist that talks to your PMS directly. Your front desk goes back to triaging the patient in front of them.

OpenDental Dentrix Eaglesoft Curve iDentalSoft Practice-Web
The problem at the front desk

You're paying $48,000/yr for a receptionist to be on the phone.

And she still can't answer it during the 11 AM rush, after 5 PM, or on Saturdays. New patients call once. When they don't get an answer, they Google the next dentist on the list.

32%New-patient calls go to VM
$650Avg new-patient first visit
14Calls/day a recall agent should make
$2,200Avg lifetime patient value

The math practices don't run: A single missed new-patient call at $650 first visit + $2,200 LTV = ~$2,850 in lifetime value walking away. The $897/month AI package needs to capture one new patient every three months to break even — most practices we deploy capture 3–5 per month.

What the AI does

Six jobs your front desk is too busy for.

New-patient intake

Captures name, DOB, insurance, chief concern, and books to the next available new-patient slot. Texts the intake forms (Dentrix Hub, OpenDental forms, or paper-replacement) to be completed before the appointment.

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After-hours emergency triage

Determines whether it's a true emergency (swelling, trauma, abscess) or routine pain. Pages the on-call provider for true emergencies; books routine cases for the next morning. Documents the call in the patient record.

🔁

Recall & reactivation

Outbound calls to patients due for their 6-month hygiene. Books them into the open slots on the schedule. Handles reactivation of patients lapsed 12–24 months.

Confirmations & reminders

Day-before SMS confirmations, day-of voice reminders for non-responders, automatic reschedule if they decline. Cuts no-shows 40–60% on average.

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Insurance Qs (within bounds)

"Do you take Delta Dental?" Yes/no answers from your live in-network list. For verification, the AI captures the policy and queues it for your verifier (human or automated) — and texts the patient when the estimate is ready.

Overflow during peak hours

The phone rings, your front desk is with a patient. Instead of voicemail, the call rolls to AI within 3 rings. Caller gets booked or transferred when your team frees up.

Sample call — new patient

How the agent handles intake.

Tuesday 11:42 AM · Inbound · OpenDental

Agent (Grace): Bayside Dental, this is Grace. How can I help you today?

Caller: Hi, I'm looking for a new dentist. My old one retired.

Grace: Of course, we're taking new patients. May I get your name and a number to reach you?

Caller: Jenna Patel, 703-555-0188.

Grace: Thanks, Jenna. Are you due for a cleaning or is there something specific bothering you?

Caller: Just a cleaning. And probably a checkup since it's been about a year.

Grace: Great. Do you have dental insurance?

Caller: Yes, Delta Dental PPO through my husband's work.

Grace: Perfect — we're in-network with Delta PPO. New-patient appointments are 75 minutes with the doctor and hygienist. I have next Wednesday at 10 AM or Thursday at 3 PM — which works better?

Caller: Wednesday 10 AM is great.

Grace: Booked. I'm texting you the new-patient forms now — please complete those before your visit so we don't keep you waiting. Anything else?

Caller: Where are you located again?

Grace: 4250 Westgate Lane, Suite 200 — I just texted you the address with directions. We'll see you Wednesday at 10 AM, Jenna.

Result: New patient created in OpenDental at 11:43 AM. Appointment block reserved for 75 min. Intake forms (Health History, HIPAA, Insurance) texted via Dentrix Hub link. Confirmation SMS sent. Call duration 2m 18s.

What the AI won't do

The things we don't pretend.

Voice AI is good at structured intake, scheduling, recall, and answering FAQs. It's not a substitute for clinical judgment or a billing manager.

Clinical decisions

The AI won't tell a patient whether they need a root canal. Emergency triage classifies severity and routes; it does not diagnose. Clinical judgment stays with the doctor.

Full insurance verification

The AI captures insurance and confirms in-network status. Full benefits/breakdown still goes to your verifier or to a service like Vyne / Insurance AI. We integrate the handoff, but we don't replace verification.

Sensitive complaints

Upset patients are warm-transferred to a human within 30 seconds. The AI does not try to talk them down. Configurable thresholds on tone and keyword triggers.

Dental pricing

Per-practice packages.

Solo Practice

1 provider · single location

$2,500 setup · then $897/month
  • 2,000 voice minutes/month
  • PMS integration (1 system)
  • New-patient intake
  • Recall & confirmations
  • After-hours triage
  • Weekly transcript review
Start here

DSO / Multi-Location

5+ locations · enterprise scope

$7,500+ setup · $2,997+/month base
  • Location-aware call routing
  • Per-location reporting
  • Centralized recall ops
  • Custom PMS integrations
  • Compliance documentation
  • Dedicated account lead
Get a quote

Benchmarking vs. TensorLinks & Get Help Desk AI: TensorLinks runs $399 (inbound only) to $699/month (full chat+SMS). Get Help Desk AI runs flat-rate ~$899/month with PMS integration. We sit slightly above these on price because our deployments include a real consulting layer — weekly tuning, monthly business review, and a human you can call. The dentists who buy this are the ones who don't want to be their own AI vendor manager.

Dental FAQ

Questions from office managers and dentists.

Which dental PMS do you integrate with?
Direct integration: OpenDental (native API), Dentrix (via Dentrix Connected Services), Eaglesoft (via Patterson API), Curve (cloud API), iDentalSoft (API), Practice-Web (via Pearl middleware). For older or in-house PMS systems, we use a hybrid bridge that writes appointments via your PMS's import/email/HL7 surface.
Is this HIPAA-compliant?
Yes, with a signed BAA. We deploy on HIPAA-aligned vendor stacks (GoHighLevel Pro with BAA, Anthropic Enterprise with BAA where Claude is in the loop) and document PHI flow for your compliance officer. Call recordings are encrypted at rest, access-logged, and retained per your written policy.
How does the AI handle a screaming patient with a swollen face at 11 PM?
Tone detection + keyword triggers route emergency-classified calls to your on-call doctor immediately. The agent captures name, callback, and chief complaint while paging the doctor — then warm-transfers when the doctor picks up. Documented in the patient chart and in our weekly review.
What about patients who don't like talking to a machine?
"Press 0 anytime to speak with a person" is configurable on every call. About 8% of callers ask for a human in our deployments; we route them to your front desk during hours, or to voicemail with SMS notification after hours. The other 92% complete the call with the AI and rate it 4.7/5 in post-call SMS surveys.
Does the AI handle treatment plan financial conversations?
No. Treatment plan finance is a high-touch, high-stakes conversation we route to the treatment coordinator. The AI confirms appointments, takes copays via stored card if you want, and answers basic questions about cost ranges — but financial counseling stays human.
How long until we see ROI?
Most practices we deploy see new-patient lift within 30 days (the AI captures calls the front desk was missing). Recall lift takes 60–90 days as the campaigns run a full cycle. Total payback typically falls in months 2–3 even on the multi-provider tier.
What if our front desk doesn't want this?
Common, and worth talking through. We frame the deployment as overflow + after-hours, not replacement. The front desk keeps doing the things they're good at (walk-ins, treatment plans, relationship-building) and offloads the things they hate (phone tag, ignored recalls, after-hours buzz). The good ones become advocates within a month.