First exams and cleanings
Confirms insurance from your list, books the new-patient exam onto a real opening and texts the intake-form link you provide.
How the receptionist worksThe week
Each one is a client, a claim or a job that went to whoever picked up.
Reaches voicemail and finds an emergency dentist on Google instead.
The most valuable call of the week, during check-in.
Unconfirmed means a possible no-show and an empty chair.
Answered by whoever picked up, or by nobody.
Setups by size
Pick the shape of your business. Every feature below links to its own page; every setup is one you can build in an afternoon.
The desk answers first, the receptionist never misses
Your practice number rings the front desk; when they're with a patient, the receptionist books the exam onto a real opening and texts the confirmation. After hours it answers first ring and routes emergencies to your cell.
Set office hours on the line. Inside them the desk rings first and the receptionist picks up after a few rings. Outside them it answers immediately, books next openings and follows your emergency instructions.
Confirmations and reminders by text, replies landing in the patient's thread. One-time 10DLC registration at onboarding; collect texting consent at intake.
Forward the emergency option to your cell on the days you're on call. Forwarded calls stay in the log with where they went.
AI receptionist
You describe dentists, services, hours, insurance and emergency rules. The receptionist books what it can, collects the minimum you specify and routes clinical questions to a human.
Confirms insurance from your list, books the new-patient exam onto a real opening and texts the intake-form link you provide.
How the receptionist worksConfirms or moves the hygiene visit within the windows you allow and posts the change to the thread.
Business textingAsks the triage questions you specify, gives your first-aid instructions, and rings the on-call dentist in the order you set.
Ring ordersAnswers from your instructions, texts the payment link you provide, and leaves anything account-specific as a task for billing.
Shared inboxGives only the ranges you've written in, and books a consult for anything else.
How the receptionist worksAnswers first ring, books next openings, routes emergencies to on-call, texts back anyone who hung up.
How the receptionist worksThe record
On Growth and above, each recorded call is transcribed with speaker labels and summarized into who called, why, what they were told and the next step. You choose which lines record. Voicemail transcripts are on every plan.
Your stack
Native integrations are listed as such. Dental PM systems have no native connection yet, so Ody reaches them through Make, webhooks or the REST API.
Push call summaries and booking details into your workflow via Make or the REST API webhooks
import your patient contact list so callers show up by name
emergency calls and voicemails posted to the team channel
payment status on the patient thread
connect the rest of your stack
Browse all 43 integrations, or connect anything else through Make and the REST API.
Trust
Calls, transcripts and messages are encrypted in transit and at rest and never used to train third-party models. A Business Associate Agreement is available on request. You decide how much the receptionist collects: name, callback number and reason for the call is the default.
Rollout
No hardware, no consultant, no call-flow diagram. Four steps and the line is answered.
Bring the office number over, or start with a new local number. Porting is free and the old line keeps working until cutover.
Providers, services, hours, insurance you accept, new-patient rules, what counts as urgent. Plain sentences, not call flows.
Ring the front desk, a phone menu, a ring order for on-call, or one number per location, plus what the receptionist does after hours.
Review transcripts and summaries, tighten the instructions, then let the receptionist book more of the schedule.
Resources
The concepts behind this setup, explained without the jargon.
FAQ
More industries
Practices where the front desk is the phone.
Comparing options? Answering service comparison · Ody vs Smith.ai · Ody vs RingCentral
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