It's the Monday-morning surge and three lines are ringing at once while your one available coordinator is still on a call about a billing question. Two of those callers — both new patients ready to book — wait through six rings and hang up. Your PracticeWorks schedule has hygiene and exam openings all week, but those two callers never get far enough to see them. They don't leave a message; they just dial the next practice. By the time the desk catches its breath, there's no trace those patients ever called.
DentalReception AI answers every one of those calls in under two rings and books, reschedules, cancels, or triages the appointment live while the patient is still on the line — 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It runs alongside Carestream PracticeWorks, the software your team already uses, so the front desk you have keeps its workflow and stops losing patients to a ringing phone.
Books live, 24/7 — alongside PracticeWorks
Most practices don't lose patients because the schedule is full — they lose them because nobody can pick up. Calls overlap at lunch, after hours, and during the Monday spike, and roughly a quarter to a third of inbound calls go unanswered (industry average). DentalReception AI answers all of them at once, with no busy signal. Every call is picked up instantly, the caller is guided through booking, and the conversation ends with a real appointment time — not a hold queue or a voicemail your team clears later.
Because it never gets overwhelmed and never closes, the third simultaneous call is handled as well as the first, and a 9 p.m. call is handled like a mid-morning one. The agent books the patient into an open slot, so your PracticeWorks schedule keeps filling even during the rush. Your appointment scheduling finishes on the call instead of becoming a stack of callbacks.
DentalReception AI connects to PracticeWorks via API and works alongside your existing setup. [TODO: confirm integration depth — live, real-time two-way write-back is available today on Dentrix, Open Dental, Eaglesoft, Curve Dental, and CareStack; PracticeWorks write-back depth is being confirmed.] Until that's finalized, every booking, reschedule, and intake detail is captured and routed to your team so nothing is lost.
What PracticeWorks practices get
- Every call answered, 24/7 — no busy signal, no hold queue, no voicemail, even during the Monday rush. See call answering.
- Live booking on the call — new patients, reschedules, and cancellations handled while the caller is on the line, then synced to your team.
- Cancellation backfill — freed time is offered to the next caller or a waitlisted patient instead of sitting empty.
- Insurance details captured — the agent collects carrier and member details and routes them to your team. See insurance verification. It captures and relays; it does not confirm coverage.
- Emergency triage and routing — a patient in pain is triaged and routed to your protocol, not left on hold.
- Bilingual answering — English and Spanish, so more callers reach a real booking.
How DentalReception AI connects to PracticeWorks
Setup is a forwarding change, not a rip-and-replace. You point your main or after-hours line to DentalReception AI, and the agent begins answering and scheduling immediately. There's no new hardware and no change to your existing phones, providers, or appointment types. You decide how much of the phone load the AI carries — only overflow when every line is busy, after-hours, or every call — and you can change that routing whenever you like. Most practices go live without changing how the front desk already works. See implementation and explore the full integrations list.
Before and after DentalReception AI
| Before DentalReception AI | With DentalReception AI + PracticeWorks | |
|---|---|---|
| Missed & after-hours calls | Roughly 1 in 3 go unanswered (industry average) | Answered in under two rings, 24/7 |
| Overlapping calls | Busy signal or hold | All answered at once |
| When it's booked | Later, after a callback | During the call |
| Where it lands | Voicemail or a sticky note | Captured and routed to your team for PracticeWorks |
| Cancelled slots | Sit empty | Offered to the next patient |
Every call is handled under a HIPAA-compliant setup with a signed BAA available — see security.
Frequently asked questions
Does DentalReception AI work with PracticeWorks?
Yes — DentalReception AI works alongside Carestream PracticeWorks and connects via API. The agent answers every inbound call, books and reschedules live, captures insurance and intake details, and routes everything to your team. The depth of automatic write-back into PracticeWorks is being confirmed [TODO: confirm integration depth]. Live, real-time two-way write-back is available today on Dentrix, Open Dental, Eaglesoft, Curve Dental, and CareStack. On PracticeWorks, your existing workflow stays in place and no booking is ever lost.
What happens when several calls come in at once?
They all get answered. Unlike a single front-desk line, DentalReception AI handles overlapping calls simultaneously, so there's no busy signal and no hold queue during the Monday-morning surge. Each caller is greeted, guided through booking, and walked to a real appointment time. This is where most practices quietly lose new patients — the second and third simultaneous callers who give up — and it's exactly the gap DentalReception AI closes. See it in a demo.
Do we need new hardware or a new phone system?
No. Setup is a forwarding change on your existing line — no new hardware, no rip-and-replace. Your current phones, providers, and appointment types stay exactly as they are. You point your main or after-hours number at DentalReception AI, choose how much call volume it handles, and the agent begins answering. Most practices go live without changing how the front desk works day to day. See implementation.
Is it HIPAA compliant?
Yes. Every call is handled under a HIPAA-compliant setup, and a signed BAA is available. The agent captures and relays patient information to your team — it does not diagnose, guarantee insurance coverage, or make clinical decisions. For emergencies it triages and routes the caller to your practice's protocol. SOC 2 status and data hosting region are being confirmed (TODO: confirm). See security, or review pricing.