The AI Receptionist books and manages patient appointments automatically — 24/7, across SMS, phone, and other messaging channels. This article covers how it matches patient requests to the right appointment and what to set up in Visit Types and your Knowledge Base so it books accurately.
How the AI Receptionist Books Appointments
When a patient reaches out — by SMS, phone, or messaging platform — the AI Receptionist:
Understands the patient’s request — for example, “I need a cleaning” or “I have tooth pain.”
Matches the request to the right visit type — using the visit type details configured in AI Receptionist → Setup → Visit Types.
Offers available time slots — based on your practice’s schedule and availability.
Confirms and books the appointment — directly into your system.
What the AI Receptionist Can Do
Book new appointments
Suggest times based on patient preferences
Guide patients through booking conversationally
Let a patient know what to expect if they ask about a specific treatment, before booking a consultation (see “Treatment Requests Work a Little Differently” below)
How to Ensure Accurate Appointment Booking
Accurate booking comes down to how well your visit types are set up. Three things matter most.
1. Turn On Visit Types for the AI Receptionist
Only visit types with AI Receptionist Access turned on — in AI Receptionist → AI Receptionist → Visit Types — can be booked by the AI Receptionist. If a visit type’s access toggle is off, the AI Receptionist can’t offer or book it, even if that visit type is active in Online Appointment Booking.
Why this matters: if no visit type is enabled, the AI Receptionist can’t book any appointments.
2. Add Patient-Friendly Detail to Each Visit Type
Click into a visit type in the Visit Types tab to fill in:
Symptoms / Medical Issues — common complaints tied to the visit (for example, tooth pain, swelling, chipped tooth)
Services Provided — services delivered at the visit (for example, cleaning, exam, X-rays)
Open Description — any extra context, in plain text
Treatments Planned at This Visit — a checklist of treatments pulled from your Knowledge Base
These fields are what the AI Receptionist actually reads to match a patient’s wording to the right visit type — the more complete they are, the more accurately it can match. You can fill them in yourself or use the AI suggestion buttons to generate a starting point, then approve what you want to keep.
Example: a patient says “My tooth hurts.” If “tooth pain” is listed under Symptoms / Medical Issues for your Emergency Appointment visit type, the AI Receptionist matches the request to that visit type.
Best practice: use the everyday language your patients actually use, and include both symptoms and common reasons for booking — not just clinical terms.
3. Keep Your Knowledge Base Services Section Complete
The Treatments Planned checklist pulls its options from the Services section of your agent’s Knowledge Base. If a treatment isn’t listed there, it won’t be available to check off on a visit type either. Keeping Services up to date in the Knowledge Base makes sure your visit types have the full list of treatments to draw from.
4. Set Default Visit Types (Recommended)
At the bottom of the Visit Types tab, set a Default for New Patients and a Default for Returning Patients. If the AI Receptionist can’t confidently match a request after two clarifying questions, it falls back to these defaults instead of turning the patient away.
Why this matters: without defaults, unmatched requests may get escalated to your staff instead of booked.
Real Example: How It Works
Patient message: “I think I chipped my tooth, and it hurts.”
The AI Receptionist:
Recognizes this as an emergency, based on the symptoms listed on your Emergency Appointment visit type
Matches the request to Emergency Appointment
Offers available time slots
Books the appointment
Treatment Requests Work a Little Differently
When a patient asks about a specific treatment — like Invisalign or a crown — rather than describing a symptom, the AI Receptionist confirms the appointment but first lets the patient know it’s a consultation and what to expect, before booking. If a patient describes a treatment and no visit type matches, the AI Receptionist directs them to contact your practice directly instead of booking blind.
When the AI Receptionist May Need Help (SMS Only)
In SMS conversations, your team may need to step in if:
The patient’s request is unclear
No matching visit type is available
The request falls outside normal booking workflows
What to Do
Open the conversation in the Message Center
Use Manual Override to take over the conversation
Once Manual Override is on, the AI Receptionist stops responding to that patient over SMS until the snooze period ends. You can see and manage this from the Snoozed Numbers tab, where it appears with a reason of “Staff Override.” Your team can continue the conversation and complete the booking manually.
Tips for Success
Only turn on AI Receptionist Access for visit types that are actually bookable and patient-facing
Keep symptoms and services descriptions simple and in patient language
Keep your Knowledge Base Services section current, since visit types draw from it
Set both default visit types so no request goes unbooked
Monitor how often defaults are used, and add more detail to visit types if fallbacks are frequent
Key Takeaways
The AI Receptionist acts as a 24/7 scheduling assistant across SMS, phone, and messaging
It matches patient requests to your configured visit types, drawing on both Visit Types and Knowledge Base detail
Proper setup — access, descriptions, and defaults — is what makes matching accurate
Your team can always step in through Manual Override if needed