Dental Answering Service: Live vs AI Options (2026)
The new-patient call that goes to voicemail at 5:15 books with the practice down the street. The cracked tooth on Saturday night needs the on-call dentist, not a message. A dental answering service is there for both.
The quick answer: You can use a live dental answering service, where operators take messages and page the on-call dentist, or an AI receptionist that answers and books. Carly is the pick for most practices: it answers every call or just the overflow, books new and existing patients during the call, sends real emergencies to the on-call dentist with a text summary, and follows your office’s rules the same way every time. It’s live the same day, and Carly signs a Business Associate Agreement on Enterprise plans.
The five calls a dental answering service has to get right
- The after-hours emergency. Your script decides what’s urgent: a knocked-out or broken tooth, swelling, bleeding that won’t stop, pain that keeps a patient up. Those reach the on-call dentist now. Swelling with trouble breathing or swallowing goes to 911 or the ER first.
- The new patient. The most valuable call you get. Book the exam before they hang up, and collect insurance details on the call.
- “Do you take my insurance?” Answer from your list, and book if the answer is yes.
- The reschedule. Move it into an open slot instead of leaving a message for the morning.
- Recall. The patient who’s six months overdue and finally calls back at 7pm should get booked, not a callback.
Dental answering services compared
| Option | Who answers | Setup | Books during the call | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carly | AI on your practice number, overflow or 24/7 | Minutes, on the site or by asking ChatGPT or Claude | Yes, through your practice software’s API or your calendars | Practices that want every call handled, starting today |
| Weave AI Receptionist | AI, inside Weave’s phones | Inside Weave | On qualified dental practice software | Practices already on Weave |
| Viva AI | AI, dental only | About a week, through Viva’s team | Yes, into supported practice software | Practices that want a dental-only vendor |
| Arini | AI | Sales-led, with engineers for large groups | Yes | Multi-location groups and DSOs |
| A live dental answering service | People, after hours | Days, with a script | Usually takes a message | A human voice on every call |
1. Carly
Carly answers your practice’s calls, texts and email in one place. It’s reliable and endlessly customizable: write the rules in plain English (“new patients get the next open exam with Dr. Bennett, a knocked-out tooth goes straight to the on-call dentist, never quote treatment prices”) and it follows them on every call.
Setup takes minutes. Paste Carly’s setup prompt into ChatGPT or Claude, grab a number, and forward the calls you miss or everything after hours (missed-call setup).
- Books during the call through your practice software’s API where it has one, or on your providers’ Google or Outlook calendars, and texts the confirmation.
- Gets emergencies to the right dentist. Urgent calls go through, and a workflow texts the on-call dentist the patient, number and problem as the call ends.
- Answers the insurance question from your list of plans, then books.
- Texts from your practice number: reminders the day before, new-patient forms and a text back on every missed call.
- Speaks English and Spanish (bilingual answering).
- One inbox for the morning. Every call, recording, transcript and text, logged in Carly’s CRM.
- Connects to everything. Thousands of apps, so a new-patient booking can update a spreadsheet and alert the front desk in Slack or Teams.
HIPAA: Carly signs a Business Associate Agreement on Enterprise plans. Book a call to set one up.
Best for: single offices and growing groups that want new patients booked and emergencies routed without a long onboarding. Get started.
2. Weave AI Receptionist
Weave sells phones, texting, forms and payments for practices, and its AI receptionist answers calls and texts around the clock.
- Watch for: booking straight to the schedule works on “qualified Dental PMS only,” per Weave’s page, and some practices have posted about support and write-back trouble.
- Best for: offices already on Weave’s phone system.
3. Viva AI
Viva is a dental-only AI receptionist that answers calls, texts, chat and email, books into your practice software and runs recall and no-show campaigns. It puts setup at about a week.
- Watch for: a demo first, and everything is built around dental, so your email and other tools need a second system.
- Best for: practices that want a vendor that only does dental.
4. Arini
Arini answers missed and after-hours calls, books patients, sends reminders and calls patients for recall, from single offices up to groups of 100+ locations.
- Watch for: sales-led and aimed at groups and DSOs.
- Best for: multi-location groups that want a vendor team on site.
5. A live dental answering service
A call center answers in your practice’s name after hours and pages the on-call dentist.
- Watch for: most take a message rather than book, you pay by the minute or the call, and the patient still waits for a callback.
- Best for: practices that want a person on every call.
Our AI dental receptionist ranking goes deeper on the AI options.
Questions to ask any dental answering service
- Will you sign a BAA? Carly signs one on Enterprise plans.
- Walk me through a Saturday-night emergency call. Who gets reached, how, and how fast?
- Do new patients get booked on the call, or get a callback? If you want them booked, go with Carly.
- Can I change the rules myself? Holiday hours, a dentist on vacation, a new insurance plan.
- What does the morning team see? One list of who was booked, who needs a call and what each call was about.
Set it up in minutes
Carly business setup prompt
Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or any AI. It walks you through the rest.
Help me connect Carly Teams so I can work with my organization's business texts, phone calls, voicemail and voice/text agents from this chat. I'll add it to you myself: tell me exactly what to click for the app you are, one step at a time, and wait for me to confirm before moving on. If a step doesn't match what I see, ask me what's on my screen. If you can do the setup yourself (Claude Code, Codex, Muse, Grok Bot), go ahead, and ask me for any key in your secure credential prompt, never in the chat. Don't tell me it's connected until list_phone_lines works, and if I have several teams, ask which to use. Before sending a text or making a call, confirm the team, recipient and message or task with me. The steps are below.
# Connect Carly Teams to an AI app
> Carly Teams works a team's business phone lines through the team's AI agents: business texts, phone calls, voicemail, the voice and text agents, and the team's CRM.
MCP server: https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp (streamable HTTP, OAuth)
## Setup
Carly Teams isn't in any plugin or connector directory yet, so it's added as a custom connection by URL.
1. Add Carly Teams:
- ChatGPT: open https://chatgpt.com/plugins, click Add, and choose Create MCP App (not Create plugin or Upload plugin archive). If Create MCP App isn't on the menu, turn on Developer mode first in Settings > Security and login. Name it "Carly Teams" with the description "Work with my team's business texts, calls, voicemail and voice/text agents," paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp as the server URL, choose OAuth, create it, and sign in. Then in the message box open the + menu, choose Developer mode, and pick Carly Teams. No plugin needs to be built, packaged or uploaded.
- Claude (claude.ai, Claude Desktop, or Cowork): Customize > Connectors > Add custom connector, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Claude Code: `claude mcp add --transport http --scope user carly-teams https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then /mcp, pick carly-teams, and authenticate.
- Codex: `codex mcp add carly-teams --url https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then `codex mcp login carly-teams`.
- Cursor: add {"mcpServers": {"carly-teams": {"url": "https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp"}}} to ~/.cursor/mcp.json, then sign in to carly-teams from Customize.
- Muse: a custom connector to https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp with a Carly API key as its bearer token. The key comes from carlyassistant.com/account (API key under Carly Teams) and goes in Muse's connector settings, not in a chat message.
- Grok: grok.com/connectors > New Connector > Custom, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Grok Bot: a custom remote MCP server named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. Approve it and sign in.
- Perplexity: Plugins in the sidebar (or Customize > Connectors), then Add custom > Connector > Add MCP connector. Choose Remote, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, pick OAuth, check the box and click Add, then click the Carly Teams card to sign in.
- Anything else: a remote MCP server (streamable HTTP) named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. It signs in with OAuth.
Sign in with the Carly account that belongs to the organization.
2. Once it's added, the Carly Teams tools show up in the chat, including list_phone_lines. If they don't, turn Carly Teams on for the chat or start a new chat.
3. To check it worked, call list_phone_lines: it returns the teams and phone lines the account can reach. A team with no phone line yet can get one with find_numbers (optionally by area code) and get_number, which may return a checkout link to finish.
4. Something to try first: "Review our missed calls and voicemail and help me reply to customers." Carly Teams also reads and answers business texts, has the team's agent make calls, and edits the voice and text agents. Texts and calls go out at once from the agent's number and can't be taken back. Team permissions apply.
## Email, calendars and workflows
Email, calendars, files, booking pages and workflows are the regular Carly connector, added separately. It's listed in ChatGPT's plugin directory (https://chatgpt.com/plugins/plugin_asdk_app_6a67a26316b88191860222f918d4ec54) and Claude's connector directory (https://claude.ai/directory/carly), and connects anywhere else at https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/. Its setup is https://carlyassistant.com/mcp.txt.Then call it from your cell after hours and play a patient with a broken tooth (how to test it). For the rest of the practice, see AI tools for dental practices.
FAQ
What is a dental answering service?
A service that answers a dental practice’s calls when the front desk can’t, mostly after hours and during busy stretches, and reaches the on-call dentist for emergencies. An AI receptionist like Carly also books new and existing patients during the call.
Does a dental answering service need to be HIPAA compliant?
Yes. It handles patient information for your practice, which makes it a business associate under HIPAA, so it should sign a business associate agreement. Carly signs one on Enterprise plans.
Can an AI answering service book into my practice software?
If your practice management software has an API, Carly books through it. Otherwise it books on your providers’ calendars and logs each booking for your team.
How does it handle dental emergencies after hours?
By your rules. A common setup sends a knocked-out tooth, swelling or uncontrolled bleeding to the on-call dentist right away, tells callers with trouble breathing or swallowing to call 911, and books routine pain for the next morning.
Can I keep my practice phone number?
Yes. Forward the calls you miss, or everything after hours, to Carly.
Ready to automate your busywork?
Carly schedules, researches, and briefs you—so you can focus on what matters.
See what people say
"Before Carly, I relied on a Calendly link, but the whole process felt impersonal and not very professional. Carly changed that by handling all the back-and-forth, so I'm no longer stuck in endless email threads trying to line up schedules.
Now Carly reaches out to candidates, shares my real-time availability, lets them pick a slot, then sends a Zoom link and drops it straight into my calendar. She sends reminders to both of us before each call, which has significantly reduced no-shows and last-minute confusion.
On top of scheduling, Carly acts like a full executive assistant, sending me my schedule the night before so I can prepare for each call. It reminds me of the old x.ai assistant, but Carly is noticeably smarter, faster, and better suited to my healthcare recruitment business."
