An AI voice agent for dental clinics: answer every call

These problems usually start with a call nobody took:

• Patients skip 6-month check-ups.
• No-shows waste your per-hour capacity.
• Patients fear dental visits, avoid reminders.

Patients in pain call rather than message, and the front desk is often chairside or with a patient at the counter.

Most calls are routine: booking a check-up, moving an appointment, asking a fee, checking if a crown is back. Some are urgent: a toothache that started overnight, a child's knocked-out tooth. Reception is often at the desk with a patient paying or booking their next stage, and the phone rings out.

Vajra, Reputoo's voice agent, runs the same workflows over the phone that the WhatsApp agent runs in chat:

1. 6-month recall sent automatically — Reputoo tracks last visit date and sends WhatsApp recall at exactly 6 months.
2. Patient books slot via WhatsApp — Bot shows available slots and confirms booking instantly — no receptionist calls.
3. Day-before reminder + care tips — Reminder with pre-visit tips (flossy the night before, avoid coffee before procedure).
4. Post-treatment follow-up + recall scheduled — 2hrs post-appointment: care instructions sent, and the six-month recall is scheduled automatically.

After each call the caller can get a WhatsApp message with the details, and staff see the call in the call log.

• 36 languages, switching to the caller's — useful where customers mix languages in one sentence.
• After hours it takes the booking or the message instead of letting the call ring out.
• Live transfer to a staff member when the caller asks for one or the call needs a person.
• Outbound calls for reminders and follow-ups, within the calling hours you set. Reminders a day before and on the morning of; recall messages when a check-up or cleaning is due, spaced months apart.

What stays with your staff: Any clinical question — pain, swelling, bleeding, post-procedure concerns — goes to the dentist or clinical staff, never to an automated answer.

If a caller describes swelling that affects breathing or swallowing, heavy bleeding, or a serious injury, the agent tells them to go to an emergency department immediately. For toothache, swelling or a knocked-out tooth, it follows the dentists' approved script — including any first-aid instruction they wrote — offers the earliest emergency slot, and transfers to the dentist on duty or marks the call urgent. It never suggests medicines.

• Clinical questions — to the dentist.
• Estimate discussions and payment plans — to the treatment coordinator.
• Complaints — to the practice manager.
• Callers asking for their dentist by name.

A monthly voice add-on of ₹1,999 (or $29) on top of your Reputoo plan, plus call minutes billed from a prepaid wallet at ₹4–12 a minute depending on the number and route.

Compare that with the cost of the calls going unanswered, or with the hours staff spend on routine calls, and decide from your own call volume.

Patients mid-treatment call to book the next stage. The agent recognises them by number, books the next recorded stage with the same dentist, and tells them if a lab item is not yet back. Every change is confirmed on WhatsApp.

Some callers are anxious even about booking. The agent keeps a calm pace, explains what the visit involves in general terms, and offers to note their concern for the dentist. A caller who wants reassurance from a person is transferred or offered a callback.

The agent confirms appointments only to the patient's registered number or after identity checks you choose, and never discusses treatment details with anyone else. Parents calling for children are handled by the child's record.

A practice taking 30 calls a day at about two minutes each uses around 60 minutes a day, roughly 1,800 a month. At ₹4–12 a minute from the prepaid wallet that is ₹7,200–₹21,600 a month in minutes, plus the ₹1,999 monthly add-on. Forwarding only unanswered and after-hours calls brings it down.

1. Connect dentists' schedules; add treatments, durations, fees and practical details.
2. Have the dentists approve the emergency and pain scripts in every language you serve.
3. Choose forwarding: unanswered, busy hours or after hours.
4. Test a cleaning booking, a treatment-stage booking, a fee question and an emergency call.

Answer with the practice's name and say the caller is speaking to the practice's assistant, with reception or a dentist available when needed. Keep the pace calm. End every booking by repeating the dentist, the day and time and how long the visit will take, and say the details are on their way to WhatsApp.

Patients who cannot make it often do not call. The agent makes moving an appointment as easy as booking it, keeps the same dentist and the right slot length for treatment stages, and releases the old slot for patients waiting for an earlier date. Every change is confirmed on WhatsApp.

The agent answers fixed fees for consultations and routine procedures, explains that other treatments are estimated in writing after examination, and describes your payment plans in general terms. Specific estimates and plans go to the treatment coordinator, who can call back.

Callers use the language they are most comfortable in, and the agent follows. The emergency and pain scripts exist in each language you serve, approved by a dentist and checked by someone fluent.

Outside hours, the agent books appointments for coming days and answers administrative questions. Emergency and pain calls follow the approved script, with the emergency instruction first, and are logged for the dentist with a callback. Holiday hours are updated before every holiday.

Compare a month before and after: calls that rang out, appointments booked by phone, and treatment stages booked on time. Review call summaries weekly, and every emergency or pain call with a dentist, to confirm the scripts held.

Patients call to ask whether their crown or aligners are back. If lab status is kept in the practice system, the agent answers and books the fitting on the spot. If not, it takes the question for reception and promises a callback — and the practice should keep that promise the same day.

Parents call to book for children, often several at once. The agent books each child under their own record, offers children's hours or a paediatric dentist if you have one, and can place siblings back to back. Confirmations go to the parent's WhatsApp with each child's name and time.

Long-standing patients often ask for "my dentist". The agent transfers them when the dentist is free, or takes a message and a callback time. It never leaves a caller who asked for a person arguing with the assistant, and never relays clinical advice on the dentist's behalf.

Many patients think about booking a check-up in the evening or at the weekend. The agent books them into open slots so the week starts with appointments rather than missed calls to return. On closed days it gives the emergency instruction first to anyone describing pain or swelling.

Callers asking about implants or aligners want to know how long it takes, how many visits and roughly what it costs. The agent explains what your dentists have written in general terms, makes clear that a personal plan and written estimate follow the examination, books a consultation with the right dentist, and sends a summary to WhatsApp. Price negotiation and payment plans go to the treatment coordinator.

A caller asking about a spouse's or adult child's treatment is offered a callback to that person's registered number unless consent to share is recorded. Parents calling about their minor children are handled through the child's record. It is a small step that keeps every patient's treatment private.