01
Booking a cleaning or checkup
- It asks
- Whether they are a new or existing patient, the days and times they prefer, and whether other family members want to come at the same visit.
The problem
Where the work leaks.
A dental front desk absorbs a constant stream of confirmations, moves and cancellations, most of which do not need clinical judgement. The chair that empties on the day is rarely refilled because nobody had time to work the list.
On the phone
The front-desk calls a dental office gets most.
Most calls to a dental front desk are administrative, and those are the only calls the assistant is set up to handle.
02
Moving or cancelling
- It asks
- The patient's name and current appointment time, then the times that would work instead, so the desk can offer the freed chair to someone else.
03
Questions about the practice
- It asks
- Hours, parking, what a new patient should bring, and whether the office bills insurance directly, answered only from the wording the office supplies.
Flagged urgent
A caller describing pain, swelling, bleeding or a broken tooth gets no advice from the assistant. The call is marked for a member of staff with the caller's own words, and the line says a person from the office will follow up, in wording the practice approves.
Booking tools
Practice-management software is not connected directly. The assistant either sends the patient the practice's own online booking link or passes the request to the desk; a schedule kept in Google Calendar can be booked into directly.
What we set up
Three that fit this work.
Each one is described by what sets it off and what then happens — so you can check it rather than take it on trust.
01
Appointment confirmation
- Starts when
- An appointment approaches.
- What happens
- A confirmation goes out with the time and the practice details, and a reply is recorded against the booking.
02
Rescheduling
- Starts when
- A patient asks to move an appointment.
- What happens
- Available times are offered, the change is made, and the released slot is returned to the diary so it can be filled.
03
Administrative routing
- Starts when
- A call arrives outside reception hours or while the desk is busy.
- What happens
- The reason for the call is captured and routed to the right person, with anything clinical flagged for a member of staff rather than answered.
Works with: AI receptionist · missed-call text-back
Example scenario
A Thursday cancellation, refilled
A patient moves their Thursday appointment. The slot is released, and the workflow raises it as available so the practice can offer it — the arithmetic of an empty chair is done before the day arrives.
A worked example of how a run takes shape.
Scope
What this does not do.
Administrative workflows only. Clinical questions, symptoms, treatment advice and patient records are out of scope and are routed to a person. Nothing here is a medical device or a substitute for clinical judgement.
01
Map
A session on how enquiries reach you now, which ones are missed, and what should happen instead.
02
Script
The greeting, the questions asked and the routing rules, written down for you to change before anything is built.
03
Build
Wired to your number, calendar and records, then tested end to end on a line that is not yours.
04
Launch
Live with a rollback path. We watch the first days of real enquiries and adjust against what people actually say.
Pricing
Month to month, published in the open.
Plans start at $299 a month plus $299 setup, including 200 voice minutes. Cancel any month.
Questions
Dental Practices: common questions
Where we work
Where we work for Dental Practices teams.
Carrtel supports Dental Practices teams in Calgary, Airdrie, Cochrane, and Okotoks. Service delivery is remote: planning, setup, and ongoing support happen online or by phone, without requiring a local office visit.
Other industries
Same setup, different shape.
Start with whatever costs you most.
A short call to map where enquiries are being lost, and what it would take to close the largest one.