Connecting your phone system to your dental PMS: Dentally, Software of Excellence, CareStack and SFD

Why the connection matters

A phone system that doesn't know your patients can only move calls around. Your team still looks every caller up by hand, books in a separate screen and writes notes afterwards, if there is time. An AI receptionist that isn't connected can only take messages.

Once the phone system is connected to your practice management system (PMS), the call and the patient record become one thing. The person or AI answering knows who is calling, can see real availability and can book there and then, and the outcome is recorded against the patient without anyone typing it up.

What should flow between the two

A useful integration works in both directions. These are the pieces worth checking:

• Caller recognition. The incoming number is matched to the patient's record, so whoever answers sees the name, upcoming appointments and any alerts before saying hello.
• Live availability. The AI and your team see real free slots by clinician, appointment type and practice, not a copy that goes out of date.
• Bookings, changes and cancellations. Appointments are created, moved and cancelled in the PMS diary itself, so there is one source of truth.
• New patients. New-patient details captured on a call or in a message create a record, ready for the first appointment.
• Contact details. Verified changes to phone numbers, addresses and contact preferences are written back to the record.
• Call and message history. The outcome and a summary of each conversation are logged against the patient, alongside recordings where you use them.

Dentally, Software of Excellence, CareStack and SFD

UK practices run on a handful of practice management systems, and many groups that grew by acquisition run more than one. Intelinteract connects to dental practice management systems including Dentally, CareStack, Software of Excellence and SFD, so practices on any of them get the same phone system and AI agents.

What each integration can do depends on the PMS and how your practice has it set up, for example which appointment types are bookable online and how clinicians' diaries are arranged. That is why the diary rules are agreed with each practice during setup rather than assumed.

Diary rules the AI must follow

Being able to write to the diary is only half the job. The AI also needs to know your rules, so it books the way your team would:

• Appointment types and lengths. Which appointment types can be booked by phone or message, and how long each takes.
• Clinician preferences. Whether patients stay with their usual dentist or hygienist, and who sees new patients.
• NHS and private. How NHS and private appointments are handled, and whether you are taking new NHS patients.
• Protected time. Emergency slots, lunch, meetings and sessions the AI must never fill.
• Multiple sites. Which practice a patient belongs to, and when it's fine to offer a slot at another site.

Questions to ask before you switch

• Is it a real two-way integration?. Ask whether the system books into the PMS diary itself, or only sends your team a message to book.
• Which PMS versions are supported?. Check your specific system and set-up, including cloud and on-premise versions.
• What happens if the PMS is unavailable?. There should be a safe fallback, such as taking the request and passing it to the team, rather than a failed call.
• Who sets up the diary rules?. You want the provider to configure and test them with your team, not leave you to work them out.
• How is patient data protected?. Look for UK GDPR, a Data Processing Addendum, role-based access and audit trails on every change.

Test before patients notice

Before the AI answers real patients, your team should test it on everyday scenarios: a new patient, a reschedule, a cancellation, a change of address and an emergency. Each test should end with the right change in the PMS and the right message to the patient. Only then should calls be switched over, ideally starting with overflow or out-of-hours calls.