Live in an afternoon, not a quarter
Switching phone systems is a project. Adding DentalReception AI isn't — because you don't switch anything. You keep your number, your hardware, and your front desk. You simply point the calls you want covered at the AI and connect your schedule. Most practices are answering live within a few hours.
The four steps
- Pick the line to cover. Start small if you like — your after-hours or overflow line — so you can see results before moving your main number. You keep your existing phone provider.
- Connect your schedule. We sync to your practice management system so the AI sees the same open slots your front desk does, and writes confirmed appointments back. See supported integrations.
- Configure your protocols. Triage rules, routing, languages, and the questions the agent asks are set to your practice — so an emergency is handled your way and a price shopper hears your positioning.
- Go live and listen. Calls start getting answered 24/7. Every one produces a summary and transcript in your dashboard, so your team can review how it's handling things from day one.
What you don't have to do
- No new phones or hardware to buy or install.
- No porting or changing your phone number.
- No ripping out your current PMS or patient-comms tools.
- No long onboarding project — there's nothing to migrate.
Connecting your practice management system
The connection that makes the AI useful is the live link to your schedule. With Dentrix, Open Dental, Eaglesoft, Curve Dental, or CareStack, the sync is real-time and two-way: the agent reads the same open slots your front desk sees, and writes the confirmed appointment, reschedule, or cancellation back into your live schedule while the patient is still on the line. There's no overnight batch, no export-import dance, and no one re-keying a message into the calendar the next morning. The booking the patient hears is the booking that's in your system.
If you run a different PMS or EHR, the AI still works alongside it — connecting via API or capturing structured intake your team can act on — and we'll tell you exactly what's live versus on the roadmap for your specific system during setup, rather than overpromising a write-back we haven't confirmed. (TODO: confirm integration depth for any system outside the five with confirmed live write-back.) Either way, nothing about your existing PMS changes; the AI is added on top of it, not in place of it.
A timeline you can plan around
The reason setup is measured in hours rather than quarters is that there's nothing to migrate and nothing to install. Here's what the day typically looks like for a single location.
| Step | Who's involved | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| Forward the line to cover | Your office manager | Minutes |
| Connect your schedule | Us + your PMS admin | Same day |
| Configure protocols & languages | You define, we set | Same day |
| Go live and review calls | Your front-desk team | Immediately after |
A single-location practice can run all four in an afternoon. The longest part isn't technical — it's deciding which line to cover first and how you want emergencies triaged, both of which are your call to make.
How your team works during and after setup
Because nothing about your existing phones or PMS changes, your front desk keeps working exactly as it does today while the AI is added alongside them. There's no cutover day where the old system goes dark, no training week where calls go unanswered, and no period where your team has to learn new hardware. The AI simply starts catching the calls you point at it — the after-hours line, the overflow when every staff member is already on a call, or eventually the main number.
From day one, every call the AI handles lands in your dashboard as a summary and full transcript, so your team can listen in and see precisely how it booked an appointment, handled an insurance question, or triaged an emergency. That visibility is how most practices build trust quickly: you start with a low-stakes line, read the transcripts, confirm the agent sounds like your practice, then expand its coverage at whatever pace you're comfortable with. You're never handing over the phones blind.
Rolling out across multiple locations
For groups and DSOs, we stage the rollout site by site, starting with the locations losing the most calls. Routing and reporting are centralized, so a regional manager sees performance across every office. See multi-location practices.
The staged approach keeps risk contained: prove the agent at one or two sites, review the call transcripts, refine the protocols, then replicate the proven configuration across the rest of the group. Because each location keeps its own number and existing setup, there's no group-wide cutover and no single point of failure — a site goes live only when it's ready, and the rest of the group keeps running untouched until then.
Security from day one
Before any live patient call is handled, we sign a BAA and configure HIPAA-compliant data handling. Details on the security page.
Compliance isn't a step you bolt on after go-live — it's a precondition for it. The Business Associate Agreement is signed and the data-handling controls are in place before the agent answers a single real patient, so your compliance officer reviews the paperwork up front rather than discovering it after calls have already been taken.
Frequently asked questions
How long does setup really take?
Most single-location practices are live the same day — typically an afternoon to forward a line and connect the schedule. Multi-location rollouts are staged over a few weeks by site.
Do I have to move my main number right away?
No. Many practices start with just the after-hours or overflow line, confirm the agent handles calls well, then expand to the main line. You're in control of the pace.
What if the AI gets a call it can't handle?
It follows your escalation rules — routing urgent callers to an on-call number or capturing a detailed message and summary. You define the fallback during setup.
Will it disrupt my front desk while we set it up?
No. Because nothing about your existing phones or PMS changes, your team keeps working normally. The AI is added alongside them, not in place of your current setup.
Does it work with my practice management system?
If you run Dentrix, Open Dental, Eaglesoft, Curve Dental, or CareStack, the AI writes appointments back into your live schedule in real time. For other systems it connects via API or captures structured intake, and we'll confirm exactly what's live for your setup during onboarding. See integrations.
Do I need new hardware or a new phone provider?
No. You keep your existing phones and phone provider and simply forward the line you want covered. There's nothing to buy, install, or port.
Ready to start? Get started or hear a demo call first.