Dental AI Receptionist

A production-ready, 12-workflow AI voice receptionist system for dental practices. Handles inbound calls, appointment booking, reminders, cancellations, waitlist management, patient recall, and staff escalation — fully automated.

Problem

Dental practices lose revenue from missed calls, no-shows, and manual scheduling overhead. Front desk staff spend 60-70% of their time on phone calls that could be automated. After-hours calls go to voicemail and patients book elsewhere.

This system provides 24/7 AI-powered call handling, automated reminders, and intelligent patient management.

What It Does

1. 1. Inbound Call Routing — AI answers calls, identifies intent (booking, cancellation, FAQ, emergency), routes accordingly
2. Appointment Booking — Books appointments with calendar integration and SMS confirmation
3. Smart Reminders — Sends 48h, 24h, and 2h reminders to reduce no-shows
4. No-Show Followup — Automatically follows up with patients who miss appointments
5. Cancellation & Waitlist — Handles cancellations and fills gaps from waitlist
6. After-Hours Capture — Captures calls outside business hours for next-day followup
7. Patient Recall — Proactive outreach for overdue care (cleanings, checkups)

Included Workflows

#	File	Purpose
01	INLINECODE0	Call intake, intent classification, business hours routing
02

02-appointment-booking.json | Book appointments, calendar sync, PMS integration | | 03 | 03-appointment-reminders.json | Multi-stage reminders (48h, 24h, 2h before) | | 04 | 04-noshow-followup.json | Detect no-shows, send followup messages | | 05 | 05-cancellation-waitlist.json | Process cancellations, auto-fill from waitlist | | 06 | 06-after-hours-capture.json | Capture after-hours calls for next-day callback | | 07 | 07-patient-recall.json | Recall campaigns for overdue patients | | 08 | 08-faq-handler.json | AI-powered answers to common questions | | 09 | 09-staff-escalation.json | AI summary + alert for calls needing human attention | | 10 | 10-crm-sync.json | Sync patient data with CRM (HubSpot, PMS) | | 11 | 11-daily-report.json | Daily metrics email (calls, bookings, no-shows, etc.) | | 12 | 12-sms-reply-handler.json | Process inbound SMS replies from patients |

Architecture

CODEBLOCK0

Required n8n Credentials

Credential Type	Used For	Placeholder in JSON
Google Sheets OAuth2	Call logs, appointments, patient records	INLINECODE12
SMTP (Gmail or custom)

Reminders, reports, notifications | YOUR_SMTP_CREDENTIAL_ID | | Google Calendar OAuth2 | Appointment scheduling | Set via GOOGLE_CALENDAR_CRED_ID env | | OpenAI | FAQ answer generation, call summaries | Set via OPENAI_CRED_ID env | | Twilio | Voice calls, SMS messaging | Set via TWILIO_CRED_ID env |

Environment Variables

CODEBLOCK1

Google Sheets Schema

Call Log

Column	Type	Description
callid	text	Unique call identifier
callerphone

text | Caller's phone number |

| caller_name | text | Patient name (if identified) | | intent | text | booking / cancellation / faq / escalation / after-hours | | timestamp | datetime | Call timestamp | | duration | number | Call duration in seconds | | summary | text | AI-generated call summary | | outcome | text | booked / cancelled / answered / escalated / captured |

Appointments

Column	Type	Description
appointmentid	text	Unique ID
patientname

text | Patient full name |

| patient_phone | text | Phone number | | service_type | text | cleaning / checkup / filling / crown / etc. | | date | date | Appointment date | | time | text | Appointment time | | status | text | confirmed / reminded / completed / no-show / cancelled | | showed_up | boolean | Whether patient attended | | reminder_48h | boolean | 48h reminder sent | | reminder_24h | boolean | 24h reminder sent | | reminder_2h | boolean | 2h reminder sent |

Patients

Column	Type	Description
patientphone	text	Primary key
patientname

text | Full name |

| email | text | Email address | | last_service | text | Most recent service type | | last_visit | date | Most recent visit date | | recall_status | text | due / notified / scheduled / completed | | total_visits | number | Lifetime visit count |

Quick Start

1. Prerequisites

• - n8n v2.4+ (self-hosted)
• Vapi.ai account (AI voice calls)
• Twilio account (phone number + SMS)
• Google Sheets OAuth2 credentials
• Google Calendar API access

2. Create Sheets

Set up 3 Google Sheets with the schemas above: Call Log, Appointments, Patients. Optionally add Waitlist, Escalations, After-Hours Queue, and Daily Reports sheets.

3. Configure Vapi Assistant

Create a Vapi assistant with your dental practice's greeting, business hours, services, and FAQ responses.

4. Import Workflows

Import all 12 JSON files into n8n. Replace all YOUR_* placeholders and set environment variables.

5. Activate

Activate workflows in order: 01 first (inbound handler), then the rest. Test with a phone call to your Vapi number.

Use Cases

1. 1. Solo dental practices — Replace or augment front desk with 24/7 AI receptionist
2. Multi-location dental groups — Centralized call handling across clinics
3. Dental service organizations (DSOs) — Scalable patient communication
4. Orthodontic practices — Long appointment cycles benefit from recall automation
5. Dental IT providers — Offer AI receptionist as a managed service to clients

Revenue Potential

• - For practices: Reduce missed calls by 80%+, no-shows by 30-50%
• As a service: Charge $500-1,500/month per dental practice
• Per-call pricing: $1-3 per handled call

Requirements

• - n8n v2.4+ (self-hosted recommended)
• Vapi.ai account ($0.05-0.10 per minute)
• Twilio account ($0.0075 per SMS)
• Google Sheets + Calendar API credentials
• Optional: HubSpot CRM, Dentrix/Eaglesoft/OpenDental PMS