What can a dental chatbot on my website actually do?

No. It takes the enquiry and hands it to your front desk, and your team books.

The chat has no access to your appointment book or your practice system, so it cannot hold a time, move one or cancel one. That is deliberate.

A bot that writes your diary can book the wrong time, and your practice is left with the no-show. A handover keeps the diary with the people who know it: who is working, which chair is free and which patient needs a longer appointment.

What the chat does instead: it answers from facts your practice has approved, asks what the visitor needs and the best number to call, then hands that to your front desk.

No. It cannot see your diary.

If a visitor asks for a time, the chat says the front desk will confirm, and collects what your team needs to call back:

• What they need, in their own words.
• Their name, phone number and email.
• Whether they are a new or existing patient, if you want that.

Your front desk then calls with the real options. If your practice has an online booking link, the chat can share it, and the visitor books through your own system. The chat never suggests a time, never says a time is free and never invents availability.

No. The chat does not give clinical advice.

When a visitor asks a clinical question, the chat says only a dentist can answer it, after seeing them. Then it collects their name and number and flags the question for your team. You can see this in the demonstration at the top of this page.

There are two reasons:

• Ahpra’s rules make the practice responsible for what its advertising says, and a chat on your website can be advertising.
• Software that suggests a diagnosis or a treatment is doing the job of a clinical tool. This chat was never given that job, and if a chat ever starts doing it, that behaviour stops.

The chat does not assess symptoms or give emergency instructions.

It takes the visitor’s name and number, notes what they need in their own words, and flags the enquiry so your front desk sees it first.

Your practice phone number is one of your approved facts, so the chat can always give it, and a visitor can call you directly at any time your practice answers.

What happens next is your practice’s decision. Your team calls back with the diary in front of them and a clinician to ask. The chat’s job ends at the handover, and it never tells a visitor how serious something is or what to do about it.

Only a fee your practice has approved, with its conditions.

Fees go on the approved facts sheet like everything else:

This matters because a chat speaks for your business. The ACCC says a business is liable for a misleading claim made by its chatbot, just as it would be for a line on its website or a statement from staff.

So the chat never guesses a price, never rounds one and never leaves out the conditions.

Yes. The chat answers 24/7. Your team does not have to.

Visitors ask questions while your front desk is with a patient, and after you close. The chat answers from your approved facts then, and takes the enquiry. Here is one night at a practice, as on the dial above:

1. 9:42 pm: a visitor asks about Saturday hours and a toothache. The chat answers the hours and hands over the rest.
2. Overnight: the enquiry waits for your front desk. Nothing more is sent to the visitor.
3. 8:00 am: your front desk opens with the enquiry ready and calls them back.

No. It gets enquiries to your front desk with the details already collected.

Your team still makes every call and every booking. The chat takes the part of the conversation that repeats every day:

• Opening hours, the address and parking.
• Which services you list.
• What the visitor needs and the best number to call.

Anything outside your approved facts goes to your team. So does anything clinical, anything about the diary and any fee you have not approved. Your front desk starts each call knowing who it is and what they asked, instead of starting from zero.

Yes. The chat window tells every visitor they are chatting with an AI chat agent, not a person.

The label sits at the top of the window for the whole conversation, not only in the first message. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) says a public chatbot should be clearly identified as a chatbot, and it is the honest way to run one.

A short notice shows before the chat starts, and the chat asks them not to share Medicare or health fund numbers. When a visitor needs a person, the chat says so and hands the enquiry to your front desk.

The notice reads: “You’re chatting with an AI chat agent, not a person. We collect your name, phone number, email and the reason you’re getting in touch, so our front desk can reply. Please don’t share Medicare or health fund numbers, or details about your health. Our privacy policy explains how we handle your information.”

The questions your front desk would ask, and nothing more.

You approve the questions before the chat goes live, along with the rest of your facts sheet. The chat also asks visitors not to share Medicare or health fund numbers.

Keep the list short. The fewer details the chat collects, the less there is to protect. That is also the OAIC’s advice for AI tools: collect the minimum personal information needed, not the whole record.

No. It works in the chat window on your website only.

The chat:

• Does not answer calls or take voicemail.
• Does not send texts or emails to the visitor after the chat.
• Does not run recall or appointment reminders.

Once the enquiry reaches your front desk, by email and SMS, the next step belongs to your team, usually a phone call. Every conversation after the chat is with a person who can see your diary.

Our automations follow the same line: they send to your front desk only, never to people who enquired or to patients.

It is included in Growth, $3,490 a month + GST, together with our automations. It is never a separate fee.

All prices are a month. Growth also adds Meta ads, AI Overviews visibility and Google Business Profile management. Plans run month to month and are charged to a card, monthly in advance.

The full comparison is on pricing.

Tell your account lead. A person replies within 1 business day.

The chat answers only from your approved facts, so most fixes are a change to that sheet: new hours, a new service, or a fee you now want it to quote.

Responsibility works like this:

• The chat speaks for your practice on your website, so its answers are held to the same advertising rules as the rest of your site.
• Under the Australian Consumer Law, a business is responsible for what its chatbot says, as it is for its website and its staff.
• That is why the chat sticks to the sheet and hands everything else to your team.

In the first week. Your plan’s agents, including the chat, go live then.

1. You sign the onboarding form before we get any access.
2. You complete the onboarding checklist: access, practice facts, your existing booking link and who approves.
3. You approve the facts sheet and the questions to ask. Approvals take up to 2 business days.
4. We add the chat widget to your website, and it goes live with the rest of your plan’s agents.

Enquiries reach your front desk by email and SMS from day one. Later changes, such as new hours or a new service, go through your account lead.

No. Ahpra does not approve agencies or chat tools, so we do not use badges like that.

Be careful with any chat sold with a regulator’s badge. Ahpra does not certify products, and other labels often name a law that does not apply in Australia, or depend on how the tool is used.

What we can tell you is how our chat works:

• It answers from approved facts only.
• It gives no testimonials, no clinical advice and no promised results.
• It says it is a chat agent.
• It hands everything else to your front desk.

How we handle patient data is on AI and patient data.

The chat talks to visitors on your website. Our automations work behind the scenes and send to your front desk only.

Many sellers bundle both into one “receptionist” that answers, books and follows up. We keep them separate, and neither books or messages patients. Both come together on Growth. See what we automate.