Automate Patient Calls and Appointment Booking After Hours
Yes, a Voice AI system can answer common patient questions and book appointments 24/7. It integrates with your practice management software to check for open slots in real time.
We built a system for a 3-dentist, 12-person practice that was missing 15-20 calls per night. The AI went live in 4 weeks. It now books an average of 8 new patient appointments weekly from calls that previously went to voicemail.
This is not a simple phone tree. The system handles natural language queries like “Do you take Delta Dental?” and “Are you accepting new patients?”. The build complexity depends on your Practice Management Software (PMS). A cloud-based PMS with a modern API is a straightforward integration; an older, on-premise system requires more custom work.
What Problem Does This Solve?
Most dental offices use a standard IVR or an external answering service for after-hours calls. An IVR phone tree is rigid. It can state your hours but cannot answer a multi-part question like, “I have a toothache, do you take Cigna, and can I be seen tomorrow?” The potential patient gets frustrated and hangs up.
Medical answering services seem like a better option, but they lack real-time calendar access. They take a message and promise a callback the next morning. This 12-hour delay is fatal for new patient acquisition. A person in pain will call the next dentist on Google who can book them immediately. The answering service also introduces human error, transcribing names and numbers incorrectly, leading to lost leads.
Consider a new resident who needs to book cleanings for their family of four. They call at 8 PM on a Tuesday. The answering service takes their name and number. By 9 AM the next day, when your front desk calls back, they have already booked with another practice that offered online scheduling. You lost a patient family worth over $2,000 per year because of a slow response.
How Does It Work?
Our process begins with connecting to your Practice Management Software (PMS). We use the official API for cloud systems like Dentrix Ascend or Open Dental to get real-time calendar availability. For on-premise systems, we build a secure data connector. This provides the AI with a live view of open slots for new patient exams, cleanings, and emergency appointments.
We then build the conversational agent using the Claude API for language understanding, wrapped in a Python FastAPI service. The application processes audio from a telephony provider, determines the caller's intent, and provides an answer in under 2 seconds. If a caller wants to book, the AI asks for their name and number, finds an open slot in the PMS, offers 2-3 options, and confirms the appointment.
The entire system is deployed on AWS Lambda, a serverless platform that costs under $50 per month to run for most practices, handling up to 5,000 calls. Every decision the AI makes is logged using `structlog`, and a daily summary report is emailed to the office manager. This report details calls handled, appointments booked, and any questions the AI could not answer.
If the AI is unable to understand a caller after two attempts, it executes a graceful failure. It apologizes, transfers the call to a dedicated voicemail, and immediately emails the audio recording and transcript to the front desk. This ensures that even the most complex or unusual inquiries are captured for manual follow-up within minutes, not hours.
What Are the Key Benefits?
Book Patients in 90 Seconds, Not 12 Hours
The AI confirms insurance and books a verified appointment in a single, short call. No more phone tag or waiting for the office to open to win a new patient.
One-Time Build, No Per-Call Fee
A fixed-price engagement for the system build. Your only ongoing cost is for low-volume cloud hosting, not a recurring fee for every call handled.
You Own the Phone Number and Code
The system is deployed in your AWS account. You receive the full Python source code in your GitHub repository, with no vendor lock-in.
Alerts for Unhandled Questions
If the AI consistently fails on a new patient question, it flags the transcript for review. This allows us to update its knowledge base.
Writes Directly to Dentrix or Open Dental
Appointments appear on your calendar automatically, linked to a new or existing patient record. Your staff starts their day with a fuller schedule.
What Does the Process Look Like?
System Access & Knowledge Audit (Week 1)
You provide read-only API access to your Practice Management Software. We crawl your website FAQ to build the initial knowledge base for patient questions.
AI Agent Development (Week 2)
We build and test the core conversation logic using the Claude API. You receive sample call transcripts to review and approve the AI's tone and accuracy.
Telephony Integration & Deployment (Week 3)
We provision a new phone number and connect it to the deployed AI system on AWS Lambda. You receive a private test number to call the system yourself.
Live Monitoring & Handoff (Week 4+)
The system goes live on your main after-hours line. We monitor the first 100 calls, tune the logic, and hand over the full documentation and source code.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much does a custom dental AI cost to build?
- The cost and timeline depend on your Practice Management Software (PMS). Systems with modern APIs like Open Dental take less time, typically a 3-week build. Older, on-premise systems can add a week of integration work. After a brief discovery call to review your current setup, we provide a fixed-price quote. Book a discovery call at cal.com/syntora/discover.
- What happens if the AI misunderstands a patient with a strong accent?
- The system is designed to fail gracefully. If it cannot understand the caller's request after two attempts, it stops trying to book an appointment. It will say, 'I'm having trouble understanding, let me take a message,' and then record a standard voicemail. A full audio recording and transcript are emailed to your office manager for manual follow-up.
- How is this different from a service like Weave or NexHealth?
- Weave and NexHealth are excellent all-in-one patient communication platforms. Syntora's build is different: it's a dedicated AI agent for your phone line, not a full software suite. You own the code and it runs in your cloud account. This is for practices that need a specific, custom solution for after-hours calls without adopting a whole new platform.
- Is this system HIPAA compliant?
- Yes. We sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) before any work begins. The system is built on HIPAA-eligible services like AWS Lambda, and all patient data is encrypted in transit and at rest. We do not store call recordings or personal health information (PHI) long-term; data is passed directly to your PMS and then purged from our logs.
- Can the AI's voice and script be customized?
- Absolutely. We can select from a range of high-quality text-to-speech voices to match your practice's brand. The entire call script, from the initial greeting to how it confirms appointments, is written and approved by you during the development phase. We can refine the tone to be more formal or more friendly based on your preference.
- How does the AI handle a patient calling with a real dental emergency?
- The AI is trained to listen for keywords like 'pain,' 'swelling,' 'bleeding,' or 'broken tooth.' When it detects a potential emergency, it immediately stops the booking script. It provides the on-call doctor's contact information or forwards the call directly to an emergency line, per your practice's specific protocol. This triage step is a primary safety feature.
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