Dental new patient calls: how to book them instead of losing them on hold

Because they arrive when the front desk is busiest. The desk is checking someone in, verifying insurance, taking a payment or already on the phone, so the call rings out, goes to voicemail or sits in a queue.

• The first half hour after opening, when emergency calls stack up.
• Lunch, when the desk is short.
• The end of the day, when patients are checking out and scheduling their next visit.
• Evenings and weekends, when the office is closed and people finally have time to call.

A new patient has nothing tying them to you yet. If they can't get through, the next office in their insurance directory or on the map is one tap away. Our guide to what missed calls cost a dental practice puts a figure on it.

Almost always the same five things: are you taking new patients, are you in-network with my plan, how soon can I be seen, what will it cost and can you see me if I'm in pain. Have a current answer to each before the phone rings.

Older callers often ask whether Medicare will pay. Medicare.gov says: "In most cases, Medicare doesn't cover dental services like routine cleanings, fillings, tooth extractions (removals), or items like dentures and implants" (Medicare.gov). Some Medicare Advantage plans include dental, so the caller should check their own plan, and your team can tell them whether you accept it.

Checking a caller's own benefits, deductible or waiting periods is insurance verification. Take the plan details on the first call and let your team verify before the visit, rather than guessing on the phone.

Warm, quick and ending with a next step. By the end, the caller should know whether you can see them, when, and what happens next.

1. 1Answer in the office's name, with your own name.
2. 2Ask whether they're new, and whether they have dental insurance and which plan.
3. 3Ask what they'd like to come in for, in their own words.
4. 4Give a straight answer on availability, network status and cost.
5. 5Take their name, date of birth, cell number and email, the insurance subscriber's details, and how they heard about you.
6. 6Book the appointment, or agree a call-back time and keep it.

Nervous patients are common, and some say so on the first call. A receptionist who slows down, explains what the first visit involves and doesn't rush them into a slot is doing marketing as well as admin.

Not if someone on your team can take it. Patients who are on the fence, nervous or comparing offices want a person who knows the practice, and your front desk runs the schedule.

The case for automated cover is narrower and more honest: the calls nobody can take. When the desk is on another line, at lunch or after closing, the alternative isn't a receptionist. It's a ring-out, a queue or voicemail. Used for overflow and after hours, an AI receptionist takes the details so your team can call back with the personal touch first thing.

Our dental answering service guide compares voicemail, front desk hours, human services and AI, and our guide to after-hours dental calls covers evenings and weekends in more detail.

Cap the wait. Decide how long a caller should ring before the call moves on, then set your phone system to forward busy and unanswered calls after that.

• Set a no-answer forward after four or five rings.
• Keep hold queues short, or turn them off, so callers aren't left wondering whether anyone will pick up.
• Offer a call back rather than a long hold.
• At peak times, put the second line on whoever is free in the back office.
• Let existing patients book simple appointments online, so the phone is freer for new ones.

Our guide to forwarding business calls explains how to set busy and no-answer forwarding on most phone systems.

Because automation copies whatever is in your schedule. If appointment types in your practice management software are vague or inconsistent, any booking system, person or software, will put patients in the wrong slot, and that frustrates the patient and the provider.

• Agree one name for each appointment type, such as new patient exam, cleaning or emergency exam.
• Set a length for each, per provider if it varies.
• Mark which dentists and hygienists see new patients.
• Decide which types can be booked without a person checking, and which need a call back.
• Keep an up-to-date note of the networks you're in and whether you're taking new patients.

Once that's in place, booking new patient exams into set slots is straightforward. Until it is, take the details and let the front desk book.

Enough that anyone on the team can call back, and verify insurance, without asking the basics again.

• Name and date of birth.
• Cell number and email.
• Dental insurance carrier and plan, and the subscriber's name and date of birth if it's not the patient's own plan.
• What they'd like to be seen for, and whether they're in pain.
• When they're free, and whether they'd take a short-notice slot.
• How they heard about you.

Asking how they heard about you on every call is the cheapest marketing measurement there is. Our guide to dental practice marketing explains how to use it to see which channels bring patients in.

The same day, and within the hour where you can. A new patient who left their details at lunchtime may have booked elsewhere by the evening.

Make one person responsible for the new patient list each day, and track how many calls become booked appointments. As an example only, with made-up numbers: if 20 new patients call in a week and 12 book, your call-to-booking rate is 60%. If that rate drops after a change of staff or phone system, you'll see it within weeks rather than at the end of the year.

Ringzel is an AI receptionist for dental offices, built for the calls the front desk can't take. It answers every call 24/7. You keep your number and forward busy, unanswered and after-hours calls.

• It answers in your office's name and tells every caller it's automated.
• It asks your new patient questions, such as which dental insurance they have, what they'd like to come in for and when they're free, and answers from the information you give it, such as the networks you're in.
• It never gives dental advice, and gives your urgent-call instructions exactly as written. If a caller describes an immediate danger to life, it tells them to call 911.
• After each call you get a recording, a transcript, a summary and a check report.
• On Professional and Premium, it can book new patient exams into the slots you choose, transfer a call to the front desk and route calls to the right person, such as your treatment coordinator.

Plans are $99, $179 or $299 a month, and every plan has a 14-day free trial with no card needed. Our guide to what an AI receptionist is covers the basics.