An AI receptionist for dental and health clinics
This is our first full build. It handles real phone calls, runs scheduling conversations from start to finish and speaks with patients in more than one language, so your front desk stays with the people in front of them.
Updated November 6, 2026 · Ceres Intelligence, Ontario, Canada
The front desk cannot be in two places
While your team checks patients in, handles payments and manages the schedule, the phone keeps ringing. Callers wait, hang up, or call a different clinic. After hours, every call goes unanswered.
Clinics also serve patients who are more comfortable in another language. An AI receptionist answers every call, books and moves appointments and passes anything clinical to your staff, with a summary of what the patient said.
What it handles for a clinic
Appointments and reschedules
Scheduling conversations handled start to finish: booking, moving and cancelling.
New-patient questions
Hours, location, what to bring and whether you are accepting new patients, answered from information the clinic approves.
More than one language
Handles calls in multiple languages, which matters in diverse communities such as the GTA.
After-hours calls
Every call is answered and summarized for the next morning instead of going to voicemail.
Clinic FAQs
Billing and insurance questions are answered only with what the clinic has approved. It never promises coverage.
Clinical or sensitive questions
Clinical, urgent and sensitive calls go to staff. The clinic decides what the receptionist says in urgent situations.
Privacy comes first
Ceres treats Canadian privacy requirements as a hard requirement for health-related builds. In Ontario that means thinking about PIPEDA for private-sector organizations and the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) for health information custodians.
- Open about being an AI. The receptionist introduces itself as the AI assistant.
- Approved answers only. It answers from information the clinic provides and does not give medical advice.
- Reviewable. Every call is logged so your team can review it.
- Agreed per clinic. Data handling, retention and consent wording are set with each clinic before launch.
Ceres is a technology provider, not a law firm. Your clinic remains responsible for its own compliance, and your privacy officer should review the setup before go-live.
What a call sounds like
A routine appointment call, including the point where a question is handed to a person.
Illustrative example written by Ceres. It is not a recording of a real customer, and your own receptionist is scripted to your business.
Practice-management and booking systems clinics use
Clinics typically run practice-management or EMR software rather than a point-of-sale system, such as Dentrix, Open Dental, Jane App, Cliniko or OSCAR. Integration with practice-management software is scoped clinic by clinic. Where no suitable API exists, the receptionist can book into a shared calendar or hand the request to staff with a summary.
| System | Developer access | What we found | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jane App | Partner program | Developer platform published. Approval and scopes apply. | Vendor docs |
| Cliniko | Public API | Full public REST API for patients, appointments and practitioners. | Vendor docs |
| Open Dental | Public API | API specification published for appointments and schedules. | Vendor docs |
| Dentrix | Partner program | Integrations run through the Dentrix developer (API Exchange) program. | Vendor docs |
| OSCAR EMR | Public API | Community-documented API. Setup varies by clinic hosting provider. | Vendor docs |
| Opencare | Not verified | Patient-booking platform for dental clinics. We did not find public developer documentation. | — |
| Calendly | Public API | API for event types, availability and scheduled events. | Vendor docs |
Developer-access status reflects what each vendor publishes (reviewed November 6, 2026). It shows whether a developer interface exists, not that Ceres has already built a connector for it. Access, plan level and data permissions vary by vendor and by account, and are confirmed with each business during discovery. Product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Ceres Intelligence is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any vendor named here.
From first meeting to live calls
Every Ceres project starts with a two to three week pilot, so you can hear it, test it and judge it before you commit to a full rollout.
Learn
We collect your services, hours, booking rules and approved answers.
Connect
We link your phone number, calendar or practice-management system and text alerts.
Test together
You and your team call it. We tune the answers until you are happy.
Go live
Then a monthly review of calls, bookings and hand-offs.
Proven build. Ceres built this receptionist end to end for dental clinics across the GTA, and it is now in pilot. It handles real voice calls, scheduling and multilingual conversations. Other health practices use the same engine, configured to their own services and rules.
Questions people ask
Does the AI receptionist give medical advice?
No. It answers only from information the clinic approves, such as hours, location and booking rules. Clinical questions, urgent symptoms and anything sensitive go to a member of staff, and the clinic decides what the receptionist says in urgent situations.
Is it PHIPA and PIPEDA compliant?
Ceres designs health-related builds with PIPEDA and Ontario's PHIPA in mind, and the details (consent wording, data handling, retention) are agreed with each clinic. Compliance is shared: Ceres cannot certify a clinic's compliance for it, and your clinic's privacy officer should review the setup before go-live.
Which practice-management systems can it connect to?
Dentrix, Open Dental, Jane App, Cliniko and OSCAR each publish some form of developer access, ranging from public APIs to partner programs. Integration is scoped clinic by clinic. See the integrations page for what we found for each system.
Can it speak languages other than English?
Yes. The receptionist handles calls in more than one language. We confirm the languages you need during discovery and test them with you in the pilot.
How is an AI receptionist priced?
Ceres charges a one-time setup fee for planning, building, customizing and integrating the receptionist for your business, then pay-as-you-go pricing based on minutes of call time, with no monthly fee. The setup fee depends on your systems and call flows, so we quote it after discovery.
Use the savings estimator to model your own call volume and see what it could be worth before you talk to anyone.
How long does it take to get live?
Ceres starts with a pilot of two to three weeks. In that time we learn your business, connect your systems, test calls together and tune the answers, then go live with a monthly review of calls and outcomes.
Give your front desk its time back.
Start with a pilot at your clinic. Hear it handle real calls before you decide.