Taking payment for dental treatment in instalments: agreeing the plan without losing track
Deposit and balance, one payment per phase or monthly instalments: how to agree a long treatment's payment plan with the patient, write it down and always know what's left.
Updated 2026-09-26 · 5 min read
How to present a dental treatment plan so the patient can say yes
In phases, with two options side by side, with the payment plan agreed and a link the patient can reread at home: what gets a long treatment plan accepted.
Updated 2026-09-26 · 4 min read
A POS for dental practices: what to ask of it, and why it should charge from the appointment
What a dental practice's POS has to do: charge the treatment from the appointment, phased payments, a receipt with your name on it and a close that balances.
Updated 2026-09-24 · 5 min read
Selling oral-hygiene products at your dental practice without a notebook: the receipt and the stock
How to charge for the toothbrush or the water flosser on the same receipt as the cleaning, have stock go down on its own and know what to order before it runs out.
Updated 2026-09-30 · 3 min read
The practice till and the daily close: open a shift, charge from the appointment, balance at night
How a till built for a dental practice works: a shift with a float, payment from the appointment, a branded receipt and a balanced close, in any country.
Updated 2026-09-02 · 6 min read
Online booking for dental clinics, without losing control of the diary
What a booking page must do to work in a clinic: real slots per dentist, emergency slots protected, and no commission per appointment.
Updated 2026-08-24 · 3 min read
The EU AI Act and your practice: what it requires from August 2026
From 2 August 2026, EU law requires telling patients they're talking to an AI. What article 50 says, who it binds, and why in a practice transparency is an advantage.
Updated 2026-07-29 · 4 min read
Cutting no-shows at a dental clinic: what works and what doesn't
An empty chair costs the same as a full one. What actually reduces missed appointments at a dental clinic, and what only adds work to the front desk.
Updated 2026-07-20 · 2 min read
Dental recall: the system that brings six-month check-ups back on their own
Most patients don't come back for their check-up because nobody reminded them. What dental recall is, how to do it without being a nuisance and what to expect.
Updated 2026-07-21 · 2 min read
WhatsApp at a dental clinic: a practical guide (and its red lines)
WhatsApp is already a clinic's digital front desk: appointments, questions, urgent cases and photos. How to organise it well and which clinical limits must never be crossed.
Updated 2026-07-22 · 2 min read
AI on the dental front desk: help for your team, not a replacement
The fear that AI will take the receptionist's job is understandable — and, in a well-run practice, wrong. How a human front desk and an AI assistant split the work.
Updated 2026-07-23 · 2 min read
Answerphone, call centre, chatbot or AI assistant: an honest comparison
Four ways to cover a dental practice's phone and WhatsApp out of hours, compared without hype: what each solves, what it doesn't, and how to choose.
Updated 2026-07-24 · 3 min read
A calendar with several dentists: no overlaps, no dead time, no double bookings
With two or more dentists the calendar becomes a system, not a notebook. Rules for no double bookings, no dead time and a clear day for everyone.
Updated 2026-07-25 · 2 min read
Practices with several sites: keeping the same standard everywhere
The challenge for a dental group isn't opening sites: it's the third one looking after people as well as the first. Local autonomy, common standards, comparable numbers.
Updated 2026-07-26 · 2 min read
The 5 numbers you should look at every week in your practice
You don't need twenty reports: five well-chosen numbers tell you the health of a dental practice. Which ones, where to find them and what each one triggers.
Updated 2026-07-27 · 2 min read
Dental CRM: what it is, what it should do, and how it lives with your software
A dental CRM isn't another calendar: it's your practice's commercial memory. What it should really do — remember, reactivate, measure — with no traumatic migration.
Updated 2026-07-23 · 3 min read
Accepted treatment plans that stall: why it happens and how to pick them up
The patient said they'd think about it and never came back. Why it happens, what it really costs, and how to follow up without pestering anybody.
Updated 2026-07-25 · 2 min read
How many patients you lose by not answering the phone
The front desk is chairside and the phone rings. The honest sum of what that silence costs, and what you can do about it without hiring anybody.
Updated 2026-07-25 · 2 min read
An overwhelmed front desk: the signs it's no longer about effort
When the team does everything it can and things still slip through, the problem stopped being about attitude and became one of systems. How to tell the difference.
Updated 2026-07-25 · 2 min read
An AI assistant in a dental practice: what to expect and what not to
What it solves from day one, the lines it never crosses, and what the first few weeks in a dental practice actually look like, step by step.
Updated 2026-07-25 · 2 min read
What to ask before hiring an AI assistant for your practice
An honest checklist, including the awkward questions about limits, data and what happens when the system gets it wrong.
Updated 2026-07-25 · 2 min read
An AI that doesn't diagnose: exactly where the line is
Prioritising an emergency is not assessing it. The difference, with examples, and why that boundary protects both the practice and the patient.
Updated 2026-07-25 · 2 min read
The first appointment: how not to lose it on the way
Between the first message and the chair there are four points where a new patient drops out. How to close them one by one.
Updated 2026-07-25 · 2 min read
Families at the practice: one phone, several patients
The mother books for herself, for her son and for grandad from the same WhatsApp. Why this breaks generic systems, and how it should be handled.
Updated 2026-07-25 · 2 min read
Dental emergencies: prioritising them without wrecking the day
Seeing whoever arrives in pain without the rest of the calendar collapsing. Held appointments, a waiting list with priority, and what never to do.
Updated 2026-07-25 · 2 min read
How to ask for reviews in a dental practice without being a pest
Who to ask, when, and how to handle criticism before it becomes public. No incentives and no shortcuts.
Updated 2026-07-25 · 2 min read
Patient data and WhatsApp: what to bear in mind
Which patient information is fine to handle over WhatsApp, which is better kept out of the chat, and what to ask a supplier before signing up.
Updated 2026-07-25 · 2 min read
What information should NOT go through an automated assistant
A short, clear list of what no automated system should touch in a dental practice, and why.
Updated 2026-07-25 · 1 min read
Does an AI assistant sound natural on a dental practice's phone?
Which voice engine is behind it, why the timbre isn't what separates suppliers any more, and the question actually worth asking before signing.
Updated 2026-08-01 · 4 min read
Can I use an AI assistant with the practice software I already have?
If your practice has used the same program for years, can you just add the AI layer? What can genuinely be done, what can't, and how the two live together.
Updated 2026-08-01 · 3 min read
Root canals, implants and orthodontics: does an AI calendar choke on them?
Treatments over several sessions, waits of months, and durations that change with the case. How an AI calendar handles it, and what to ask before trusting it.
Updated 2026-08-01 · 3 min read
Double bookings and handovers: the two failures that ruin an AI assistant
The two questions to ask any AI assistant before you sign: will it double-book your diary, and what happens when the patient needs a human being?
Updated 2026-08-11 · 4 min read
Downsides of an AI assistant in a dental practice: every objection, answered
The ten most common objections to an AI assistant in a dental practice, one by one: which are myths, which depend on how it's built, and how ClaudIA handles each.
Updated 2026-08-11 · 8 min read
Running the practice from WhatsApp: what orders you can give an assistant
Move an appointment, block an afternoon or message a patient without opening the software — and the limits worth insisting on before it touches your diary.
Updated 2026-08-26 · 4 min read
Financing treatment: how to explain it over WhatsApp without closing anything
Many treatment plans stall over money, not clinical doubts. How to say over WhatsApp that financing exists without promising terms a third party decides.
Updated 2026-09-03 · 3 min read
Patients with dental insurance: how to answer without promising cover
«Do you take my insurance?» is one of the first questions a practice gets. How to answer it in advance, what an assistant can say and what it must never promise.
Updated 2026-09-03 · 3 min read
WhatsApp Business or the WhatsApp API: what your practice needs to run an assistant
Two ways to connect an assistant to a practice's WhatsApp, and they are not the same: Meta's official API has a 24-hour window and templates; the number's own session doesn't.
Updated 2026-09-03 · 4 min read
We're translating these articles. In the meantime, they're all available in Spanish.