Answer every call in under 2 seconds. Book directly into Dentrix and Open Dental. Recover the $14K–$22K per month the average 2-chair practice loses to missed calls — without hiring another front desk.
HIPAA-compliant · BAA included · 5-day onboarding
See the Wavez AI receptionist take a new-patient call, verify Delta Dental PPO coverage, book a hygiene visit into Open Dental, and fire an SMS confirm — without a human touching the phone.
Want a custom demo on your own workflows? Book a 15-minute call and we will build a working prototype during the meeting.
A dental AI receptionist is not a glorified IVR menu and it is not a generic ChatGPT phone bot. It is a voice AI trained specifically on dental workflows, dental terminology, and dental insurance — and connected directly to your practice management system. When a patient calls, it picks up in under 2 seconds, greets them in your practice tone, and handles the call end-to-end.
Outcomes our customers see in the first 90 days — not features, outcomes.
All numbers are 2026 US averages from our front desk benchmark report. Human receptionist is loaded cost (wages + payroll tax + benefits + PTO + training). AI receptionist is Wavez Pro plan.
| Line item | Human front desk | Answering service | Wavez AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost (single location) | $4,800–$6,400 | $650–$1,400 | $599–$999 |
| Hours covered per week | 40 | 168 (msg only) | 168 |
| Books into PMS | Yes | No | Yes |
| Handles insurance questions | Yes | No | Yes |
| Emergency triage | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Average pickup time | 8–22 sec | 12–40 sec | < 2 sec |
| Calls handled simultaneously | 1 | 3–5 | Unlimited |
| Sick days / PTO / turnover | 12–18 days/yr | N/A | None |
| Bilingual (EN/ES) | Maybe | Maybe | Yes (always) |
| Time to "hire" | 6–10 weeks | 1 week | 5–7 days |
See the full breakdown on our AI receptionist cost page, or model your own with the staffing cost calculator.
We benchmarked the five vendors dental practices ask us about most often. All data pulled from public pricing pages and verified buyer interviews in Q2 2026. Dental-specific training, PMS integrations, and BAA support are the three line items that matter most for clinics.
| Feature | Wavez | Dialzara | Smith.ai | Rondah.ai | Dentina.ai |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dental-only training | Yes | No (generic) | No (generic) | Yes | Yes |
| Starting price | $599/mo flat | $209/mo + usage | $255/mo + $7/call | $499/mo + usage | $650/mo + usage |
| Per-minute charges | None on Std/Pro | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dentrix / Eaglesoft | Direct API | No | Manual | Direct API | Direct API |
| Open Dental | Direct API | No | Manual | Direct API | Direct API |
| Curve / Denticon / Carestack | All 3 | No | No | 1 of 3 | 2 of 3 |
| Bilingual EN/ES same call | Yes | No | Limited | Yes | No |
| BAA signed | Yes | Case-by-case | Yes (Pro) | Yes | Yes |
| Emergency triage protocol | Custom per-clinic | No | Template only | Template | Custom |
| Onboarding time | 5–7 days | 1 day (self) | 2–3 weeks | 2 weeks | 3–4 weeks |
| Outbound recall | Included on Pro | Add-on | Add-on | Roadmap | Add-on |
For full side-by-side breakdowns see Wavez vs Dialzara, Wavez vs Smith.ai, or the full comparison hub.
Sources: Wavez 2026 State of Dental Call Handling Report (n=1,200 US dental clinics), ADA Health Policy Institute, and Wavez patient acceptance survey (n=4,100).
Want your own number? Run it through the missed-call revenue calculator — it takes 60 seconds.
Three anonymized customer profiles — typical of the ~200 US dental clinics deployed on Wavez as of mid-2026.
Model your own ROI in 60 seconds — the AI receptionist ROI calculator uses your real call volume and patient LTV. See the underlying data in the 90-day dental ROI study.
Real US dental clinics on Wavez — what their phones looked like before, what changed after launch, and exactly how the math worked out. Every metric is pulled from their own dashboards, not estimates.
“We were missing 40% of our calls. Now we miss zero — and patients can’t tell it’s AI.”
— Dr. Maria Chen, Owner
“We replaced two contract receptionists and got better coverage. The math wasn’t even close.”
— James Patel, COO
“My front desk used to drown in the phones. Now she can actually take care of the patients in the office.”
— Dr. Sam Reyes, Owner
A dental AI receptionist is only as useful as its connection to your schedule. Wavez writes appointments directly into your PMS in real time, respecting provider availability, operatory blocks, procedure-code durations, and your custom scheduling rules. No "we will text you tomorrow to confirm." The booking is live the moment the patient hangs up.
Don’t see your PMS? Wavez also supports Easy Dental, SoftDent, PracticeWorks, and any system with a webhook or iCal feed. Ask us about your stack →
Wavez is built for US-based dental practices of every shape — but the ROI profile differs. Here is how value typically lands across the four most common owner profiles we onboard each month.
Dental practices handle PHI on every call — insurance details, medical history, payment intent. Wavez treats that data the same way a hospital information system would, and we make our compliance posture explicit so your compliance officer can sign off in a single review.
An AI receptionist is not just a phone tool — it directly improves the signals Google uses to rank your dental practice in local search and Google Business Profile.
Everything dental owners ask us before booking a demo.
A dental AI receptionist is a voice-based AI system trained specifically for dental practices. It answers patient phone calls 24/7, books appointments directly into your practice management software, answers insurance and FAQ questions, triages dental emergencies, and sends SMS confirmations — without a human picking up the phone.
Dental AI receptionists are trained on dental terminology (cleanings, crowns, ortho, implants, perio, endo, emergencies), integrate with dental PMS like Dentrix, Eaglesoft, and Open Dental, understand dental-specific insurance questions (PPO vs HMO, in-network vs out-of-network), and follow clinical emergency protocols. A generic AI phone bot does none of this.
Yes — reputable dental AI receptionists, including Wavez, are HIPAA-compliant. We sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA), encrypt all PHI in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256), and never use call recordings to train public models. Avoid any vendor that will not sign a BAA.
In our 2026 patient survey of 4,100 US dental patients, 94% rated AI receptionist calls "the same as" or "better than" human ones. 71% did not realize they were speaking with AI during the booking call. Acceptance among patients 65+ has risen from 41% in 2024 to 78% in 2026.
Most dental AI receptionists in 2026 cost $400 to $1,200 per month for a single-location practice. Wavez plans start at $599/month with no per-minute charges on standard tiers. For full comparison, see our pricing page and AI receptionist cost guide.
Across 1,200 US dental clinics we audited in 2025, the median practice missed 28% of inbound calls — roughly 35 to 50 calls per week. About 62% of those missed calls never call back. At an average new-patient lifetime value of $1,800, that is $14,000–$22,000 in lost revenue per month for a typical 2-chair practice.
Yes. Wavez integrates directly with Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental, Curve Dental, Denticon, and Carestack. Appointments booked over the phone hit your live schedule within seconds, respect provider availability, operatory constraints, and block-scheduling rules.
The AI follows a fallback protocol you define: hot-transfer to your front desk during business hours, voicemail with an SMS summary after hours, or escalate to an on-call doctor for emergencies. Less than 4% of calls require a human handoff in mature deployments.
Median payback across 200+ deployed US dental clinics is 47 days. Top-quartile practices break even within 21 days — typically driven by net-new after-hours bookings and recovered business-hours missed calls. Use our ROI calculator to model your specific practice.
No, and we strongly recommend against it. Practices that get the most value redeploy front desk staff to in-chair patient experience: check-in, treatment plan presentation, insurance verification, and recall follow-up. The AI absorbs phone volume so your team can focus on revenue-generating work in the operatory.
Standard onboarding is 5–7 business days. That includes discovery, PMS integration, voice training on your practice tone and FAQs, test calls, and go-live. You keep your existing phone number — we forward calls or set up a call routing rule.
Yes. Wavez supports English and Spanish in a single call — the AI detects the language automatically and switches without losing context. This is critical for practices in TX, CA, FL, AZ, and NY where 18–35% of new-patient calls come in Spanish.
The AI follows your written emergency protocol. Typically: identify the emergency (trauma, severe pain, swelling), capture patient info, page the on-call doctor with a structured SMS, and reassure the patient. No more 2 AM voicemails the next morning.
Yes. Wavez supports DSOs and multi-location groups with shared logic and per-location customization — different hours, providers, services, and intake forms per location. Reporting rolls up at the group level.
Answering services take messages. They do not book appointments, do not have access to your schedule, and average $1.10–$1.85 per minute. An AI receptionist completes the booking, updates your PMS, and costs roughly 1/4 to 1/6 of a traditional service for the same call volume.