Updated: 4 Oct 2026
Phone Answering for a Dental Clinic: Fewer No-Shows, More Answered Calls
Phone answering for a dental clinic is a digital assistant that answers in Hebrew while the staff are with a patient, books and moves appointments, detects urgent pain by rules the clinic set and transfers it to the dentist, and sends an appointment confirmation on WhatsApp. It gives no medical advice and quotes no treatment prices that were not approved. Israel has about 12,400 dentists, and in a typical clinic the phone rings exactly when the receptionist is busy with a patient. Azorly connects to the existing number and costs from ₪199 a month before VAT.
In a dental clinic with two or three dentists and a hygienist, the front-desk receptionist does four jobs at once: checking patients in, payments and health-fund forms, scheduling and the phone. At peak hours, 8:00–10:00 and 16:00–19:00, the phone loses. The missed calls are new patients, patients in pain and people wanting to cancel tomorrow's appointment, and each costs money in a different way.
No-shows: three ways the assistant reduces them
A no-show is an empty chair for 30–60 minutes and a dentist waiting. Most cancellations are not malicious: the patient decided at 21:00 they cannot make it tomorrow, called the closed clinic, reached voicemail and gave up. 24/7 answering solves exactly that.
- Cancel and reschedule at any hour: the patient calls at 21:00, the assistant logs the cancellation and offers an alternative. In the morning the clinic finds a free chair and can fill it.
- A WhatsApp confirmation right after the call, with the date, time, dentist's name and address. A patient who received a written confirmation shows up more often.
- A waitlist from the calls: anyone who asked for an early slot and found none is flagged in the summary, and when a chair opens there is someone to call.
A Sunday at a two-dentist clinic: what the assistant does
Dr. Levi's clinic in Petah Tikva: two dentists, a hygienist, one receptionist. Sunday starts at 8:00 with a full waiting room. These are the calls the receptionist could not get to, and what Dana, the clinic's digital assistant, did with them.
| The call | What Dana does | What the clinic receives |
|---|---|---|
| 8:05 “My crown fell off” | Detects an urgency word, asks whether there is pain, offers the first urgent slot the clinic opened for the day, and confirms | Urgent appointment in the calendar, summary with name and phone |
| 8:30 New patient for the hygienist | Asks new or existing patient, health fund, convenient time. Logs a booking request and sends a WhatsApp confirmation once the clinic approves | New lead, classified “hygienist” |
| 9:15 “How much is whitening” | Says only what was approved: the first examination costs X, followed by a detailed quote. Logs a callback request | Lead with a price question |
| 12:40 Swelling and fever after an extraction | Detects a combination of post-treatment urgency words, transfers the call to the treating dentist. With no answer, an urgent message and a promised callback within 15 minutes | Urgent WhatsApp message to the dentist and the receptionist |
| 17:00 Cancelling a child's appointment for tomorrow | Logs the cancellation, offers two alternative slots, and marks the chair as free | A free chair tomorrow at 9:30, candidates from the waitlist |
| 19:30 “Do you work with Clalit?” | Answers per the characterization, explains what to bring, and logs a first-appointment request | New patient, health fund, requested time |
Pain triage: the rules the clinic defines
A dental clinic has two urgency levels that must never be mixed: pain that needs an appointment today, and a condition that needs the dentist on the line now. In the characterization you define the words for each level and what happens at each.
How to build a pain-triage rule
- 1
Level 1: an urgent slot today
“Severe pain”, “something broke”, “my crown fell off”, “a filling fell out”. The assistant offers the nearest urgent slot the clinic holds each day, and if none is left, logs a callback within 30 minutes.
- 2
Level 2: the dentist on the line
“Swelling” with “fever”, “bleeding that will not stop”, a tooth injury after a blow or an accident. The assistant transfers the call to the on-call dentist's mobile, and with no answer sends an urgent message.
- 3
A clear line
For facial injury or difficulty breathing or swallowing, the assistant tells the caller to dial 101 or go to the ER. It does not reassure and does not recommend painkillers.
- 4
Test
Call the demo number with “I am swollen and feverish after an extraction” and check that the dentist's mobile rings.
Confirmations, reminders and promotions: what the spam law allows
Dental clinics send many messages: appointment confirmations, reminders, recall invitations and whitening promotions. The spam law (section 30A of the Communications Law) distinguishes a service message from advertising, and compensation for an advertising message sent without consent reaches ₪1,000 per message with no proof of damage.
| Message | Example | Status | What is required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appointment confirmation | “Confirming your appointment on 12.11 at 9:30 with Dr. Levi” | Service message | Nothing beyond the booked appointment |
| Appointment reminder | “Tomorrow at 9:30, reply to this message to change” | Service message | Nothing |
| “We saw you called” | “We could not answer, we will call back by 16:00” | Service message | No promotion inside the message |
| Recall reminder | “A year has passed since your last check-up, you can book” | Service if neutral; advertising if it carries a discount | Prior consent recommended |
| Promotion | “Whitening at 20% off this month” | Advertising | Explicit prior consent, the word “advertisement”, sender details and an opt-out |
Privacy: medical data and Amendment 13
- What a patient says about their mouth is specially sensitive information under Amendment 13 to the Privacy Protection Law (in force since 14 August 2025). The clinic is the data controller, and Azorly holds the data under a data processing agreement.
- The assistant announces at the start that it is a digital assistant and that the call is recorded, as required by section 11 of the Privacy Protection Law and the Authority's draft AI guidance.
- Recordings and transcripts live in the clinic's dashboard, with a user per team member and a retention period you set. An ID number is not requested unless you enable the field.
Connection: keep your number, PBX included
From characterization to the first call
- 1
A 10-minute characterization
Dentists and specialties, appointment lengths, health funds, what to say about prices, hours including Friday and holidays, pain-triage rules.
- 2
Connect the line
For a clinic with a direct line: no-answer forwarding with *61* followed by the number and **20#. For a clinic with a PBX: ask the provider for an after-hours time condition and a 20-second overflow to the assistant's number, or a “book an appointment” option in the menu.
- 3
Dana answers
During reception hours she catches only calls the receptionist could not get to. After 19:00 and on Fridays she answers them all.
- 4
The receptionist stays in control
Summaries reach the clinic's WhatsApp and the dashboard. The receptionist approves appointments, fills freed chairs and manages callbacks.
Call Dana and try booking a hygienist appointment
What it costs a dental clinic
| Clinic | Plan | Monthly price | Minutes | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One dentist | Starter | ₪199 | 200 | Missed calls at peak hours and after 19:00 |
| 2–4 dentists and a hygienist | Pro | ₪449 | 600 | Urgent pain transferred to the dentist's mobile, 2 assistants (reception + night), 5 seats |
| Clinic chain | Business | ₪999 | 1,500 | 5 numbers, PBX over SIP, calendar and CRM |
Let Dana answer at the next peak hour
A 10-minute characterization, the clinic keeps its number, and a 14-day trial with no credit card.
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Sources
- State Comptroller report on dental health: number of dentists in Israel (accessed 2026-10-04)
- Spam law: compensation for advertising sent without consent (Kol Zchut) (accessed 2026-10-04)
- The spam law (Hebrew Wikipedia) (accessed 2026-10-04)
- Amendment 13 to the Privacy Protection Law: a guide for businesses (iCount) (accessed 2026-10-04)
- Call recording and the Secret Monitoring Law (Kikar guide) (accessed 2026-10-04)
- Privacy Protection Authority draft guidance on AI systems (Shibolet summary) (accessed 2026-10-04)
- Cloud PBX guide: time conditions and overflow (Telecom Expert) (accessed 2026-10-04)