Best AI Dental Receptionist in 2026: 7 Phone Agents Compared

The best AI dental receptionist for most independent practices is Viva AI: it publishes its prices ($349 to $1,199 per month), says it books straight into Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental and Curve during the call, and states that it signs a business associate agreement (BAA) with every practice. Multi-location groups should look at Arini, and practices already paying for Weave, Dental Intelligence or VoiceStack should try the receptionist built into that platform first. This guide compares seven dental AI receptionists on what they handle, which practice management systems (PMS) they work with, their HIPAA statements and their published prices. All of it comes from vendor websites and filings, checked in October 2026.

Comparison: AI receptionists for dental offices

Features, integrations and prices from vendor websites, checked October 2026. “Books during the call” means the vendor says the agent checks live openings and writes the appointment to your schedule.

1. Viva AI: best overall for independent practices

Viva AI is the most transparent vendor in this category. It publishes three plans, each with a monthly allowance of usage credits:

• Gold, $349 per month (4,000 credits): after-hours and overflow answering, call recording and transcription.
• Platinum, $899 per month (7,000 credits): answers every call 24/7, adds texting, web chat, email, online booking, outreach campaigns and live call transfer.
• Diamond, $1,199 per month (12,000 credits): the same features as Platinum with more credits and a lower overage rate.

AI-answered calls use 10 credits per minute, so Gold’s allowance covers about 400 minutes of AI calls a month. Extra credits cost $0.08 to $0.10 each. Staff calls, reminders and campaigns don’t use credits. Viva offers a 30-day risk-free trial.

On integrations, Viva says it reads and writes the schedule in real time through official PMS integrations and names Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental and Curve, plus Dentrix Ascend, CareStack and Cloud9 on its answering-service page. It says it creates new-patient charts automatically, works in more than 100 languages, and transfers to staff when a patient asks for a person. It is the only vendor here that states on its homepage that it signs a BAA with every practice, and it claims SOC 2 Type II certification.

Cons: usage-based billing makes the monthly cost less predictable for a busy office than a flat fee. Live call transfer starts at the Platinum tier, so the $349 plan is mainly after-hours cover. Viva is a newer, smaller company than Weave or Dental Intelligence, so ask for references at practices on your PMS.

2. Arini: best for DSOs and multi-location groups

Arini went through Y Combinator and describes itself as an AI receptionist for dentists that answers calls and schedules appointments. Its inbound agent learns your providers, appointment types, durations and scheduling templates, answers questions about insurance plans you accept and office policies, and escalates to staff when a call falls outside the rules you set. It detects when a caller switches language mid-call. Beyond inbound calls it runs outbound reactivation campaigns and appointment confirmations, and its QA agents review calls and create follow-up tasks.

Arini sells hardest to groups: it offers a dedicated success manager for every customer, a performance dashboard called Watchtower, and “forward deployed engineers” who build custom workflows for large organizations. Its site publishes customer case studies with production figures, which are the company’s own numbers.

Cons: pricing isn’t published. Its site says it integrates with cloud and on-premise PMS but does not name which ones, and the pages we read make no HIPAA or BAA statement. Ask for both in writing before a demo goes further.

3. Weave AI Receptionist: best if you already use Weave

Weave built its AI receptionist into the phone, texting and scheduling platform many dental offices already run. It answers calls and texts 24/7, answers FAQs, creates follow-up tasks, and hands calls to staff with a summary when it can’t answer. You choose when calls route to the AI: main line, overflow, after hours or specific call types. Weave announced an omnichannel version built on Google’s Gemini in May 2026, which keeps one conversation thread across voice and text.

The important caveat is on Weave’s own page: automatic booking and rescheduling is listed as “for qualified Dental PMS only.” On other systems the AI captures an appointment request and your team schedules it. Payment collection and real-time language switching were marked “coming soon” when we checked. Weave’s plans start at $199 per month, but the page does not say which tier includes the AI receptionist.

Cons: AI features are priced inside a Weave plan, so it is not a standalone option. Confirm that your PMS qualifies for live booking before you count on it.

4. Dental Intelligence: best for answering billing and insurance calls

Dental Intelligence added an AI receptionist to its analytics and patient engagement platform. Its agent does more on routine account calls than most here. It recognizes existing patients and creates charts for new ones, answers questions about upcoming appointments and hygiene due dates, confirms insurance compatibility, and can mention an outstanding balance and text a payment link. Before sharing anything sensitive it verifies the caller with a one-time PIN, which is a sensible control most competitors don’t describe.

Dental Intelligence lists Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend, Eaglesoft, Denticon, Fuse and Open Dental among its PMS integrations and says the receptionist works with most major VoIP phone systems, so you keep your current phones. The company says it is HIPAA, SOC 2 and PCI compliant.

Cons: pricing is not published, and the receptionist runs inside the Dental Intelligence platform, so it makes most sense if you already use or want DI’s analytics and engagement tools.

5. VoiceStack: best for CareStack practices

VoiceStack is an AI phone system for dental practices and groups, and CareStack lists it as an optional upgrade on its own pricing page. The AI receptionist books, cancels and reschedules appointments in real time, answers location-specific FAQs, recognizes returning patients and pulls their information from the PMS, and triages urgent calls to the right person with context. It handles English and Spanish, and takes concurrent calls. Its integration logos include Open Dental, Dentrix Ascend, Eaglesoft, CareStack, Planet DDS and OS Dental.

On compliance, VoiceStack’s FAQ says recordings are encrypted in transit and at rest and access is role-based. Asked directly whether it will sign a BAA, it says it will “review your compliance requirements during contracting,” which is less definite than Viva’s answer.

Cons: pricing is not published. Language support is English and Spanish only. Support hours are Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., so plan for problems that happen on a Sunday.

6. Peerlogic (Aimee): best published price for a full phone system with AI

Peerlogic is a dental and veterinary phone platform with an AI agent called Aimee. Its pricing is public. Professional is $399 per month and covers the VoIP phone system, call transcription and summaries, call pop with PMS data, and automated missed-call texts, but no AI voice agent. Premium is $699 per month and adds AI voice, text and chat, AI actions for bookings and FAQs, website chat and 24/7 support. Enterprise pricing is quoted. Peerlogic lists native integrations with Dentrix, Open Dental, Eaglesoft and Denticon, and its pricing page states HIPAA compliance and SOC 2 certification.

Cons: the AI voice agent is only in Premium, so the $399 plan is a smart phone system rather than an AI receptionist. Its marketing leans on missed-call text-back and call analytics, so ask to hear a live call where Aimee books a new patient into your PMS.

7. Mango Voice (Margo): best low-cost message-taker

Mango Voice is a healthcare phone provider, and Margo is its AI receptionist. Margo is deliberately limited. When your team can’t pick up, it holds a real conversation, captures the caller’s name, callback number, reason for calling and preferred appointment time, detects emergencies, and emails your team a structured call report. In supported PMS the summary is also written into the patient record. It does not book the appointment itself.

That makes it the cheapest way here to stop sending callers to voicemail. The AI Suite, which includes phones, unlimited calls, fax and Margo, is $419 per month for 1 to 3 phones on monthly billing ($399 billed annually), rising to $769 per month for 11 to 15 phones. A one-time implementation fee applies. Mango’s phone system integrates with Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend, Open Dental, Eaglesoft, Curve, Denticon and others for caller ID pop-ups.

Cons: someone still has to call every patient back, so an after-hours new-patient call can go to whichever office answers first. You have to switch your phone service to Mango to use it.

What to check before you buy

PMS write-back or read-only

An agent that can only read your schedule can tell a patient what’s open, but your team still has to enter the appointment. Write-back means the agent creates the appointment, and ideally the new-patient record, in your PMS. Ask which appointment types it may book, whether it respects your scheduling templates and provider rules, and how it avoids duplicate patient records when a patient calls from a new number.

Server-based systems like Dentrix and Eaglesoft usually need a connector installed on your office server, which stops syncing if that machine is off. Cloud systems like Dentrix Ascend, Curve and Denticon connect through the vendor’s API. Our practice management software comparison explains which systems are server-based and which are cloud.

A signed BAA

A vendor whose agent hears patient names, dates of birth and insurance details is handling protected health information for you. Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule (45 CFR 164.502(e)), you need satisfactory written assurances from that business associate, which in practice is a signed BAA. A “HIPAA compliant” badge on a website does not replace it. Also ask where recordings and transcripts are stored, how long they are kept, and whether the vendor uses your calls to train its models.

Call recording consent

Every product here records or transcribes calls. Federal law (18 U.S.C. 2511) allows recording when one party consents, but some states, including California (Penal Code 632), require the consent of all parties to a confidential call. Patients may call you from out of state, so the simplest fix is a short notice in the greeting (“this call may be recorded”). Ask the vendor whether the notice is on by default and whether you can edit it.

Escalation to staff

Decide which calls the agent must never finish on its own: dental emergencies (swelling, trauma, bleeding), upset patients, billing disputes and anything clinical. Then check how the handoff works. A live transfer to a person during business hours, an on-call alert after hours, and a written summary so the patient doesn’t repeat themselves are the minimum. Weave, VoiceStack and Viva all describe transfers with context; Mango Voice relies on email reports.

A real trial on your own phone line

Most vendors can run on overflow or after-hours only. Start there for 30 days, listen to a sample of recordings every week, and compare booked appointments against what shows up on the schedule. For other ways to fill open time, see our AI scheduling optimization guide.

How to choose

• Independent practice that wants published pricing and live booking: Viva AI.
• Multi-location group or DSO that wants a vendor team on the project: Arini.
• Already on Weave or Dental Intelligence: turn on their AI receptionist first and confirm your PMS supports live booking.
• CareStack practice: VoiceStack, which CareStack sells as an add-on.
• Replacing your phone system at the same time: Peerlogic Premium ($699/mo) if you want the AI to book, Mango Voice AI Suite ($419/mo) if a structured message is enough.

Independent. We verify regulatory claims against the FDA 510(k) database and link every filing. Found an error? Email [email protected]; corrections are logged on our editorial policy page.