The audit, carried out by health tech startup Conversico, tracked call outcomes across three of the busiest and most vulnerable windows in a practice's week: lunch, weekends, and early evening (6-8pm).

The results were stark. Between 6pm and 8pm, when many practices are closed but patients are still trying to get through, 88.1% of calls went unanswered at the time of the call, with the large majority routed to voicemail. At weekends, 79.9% of calls met the same fate. Even during lunch, a single hour, mid-week, nearly a third of calls (30.9%) went unanswered.

For a sector where a single missed call can mean a lost new patient, and an existing patient left without reassurance, the numbers point to a problem that's rarely quantified: how much potential revenue and patient goodwill practices are losing simply because no one was free to pick up the phone.

The scale becomes clearer when set against treatment values. A single dental implant typically costs in the region of £2,500- £2,700 privately in the UK, while a full course of Invisalign treatment averages roughly £3,200 - £3,500. If a practice misses just one inquiry a week for either treatment, a realistic scenario given the audit's evening and weekend figures, that's a potential £130,000–£200,000 in lost revenue over a year, from a single missed call a week alone. Not every inquiry converts into booked treatment, but even a fraction of that adds up to a significant, recurring loss for practices that may not realise it's happening.

"Practices aren't losing these calls because reception teams aren't working hard enough," said Dr Ahmed Omran, co-founder and CEO of Conversico. "They're losing them because there are only so many hours in the day, and patients don't stop needing to get in touch for appointments or reassurance." The industry, he said, needs to see these numbers to understand the scale of what's being missed.

Patients are more ready for AI than practices might expect

Alongside the call audit, Conversico surveyed the public directly on how they'd feel about an AI voice assistant answering the phone at their dental practice. The results suggest that patient appetite is already ahead of where many practices assume it is.

Of the 100+ people surveyed, 80% said they'd feel comfortable speaking to an AI voice assistant, and 93% were supportive or open to practices introducing one to improve access. Nearly two-thirds (65.5%) said that, outside normal opening hours, they'd rather speak to an AI voice assistant immediately than leave a voicemail, fill in a website form, or wait for a callback.

Patients were most comfortable using AI for practical, everyday tasks: general enquiries (93%), appointment reminders (91%) and booking, changing or cancelling appointments (86%). Trust dropped off, unsurprisingly, around more sensitive interactions: most respondents said they'd still want to speak to a human for complaints (78%) and treatment advice (73%).

"Patients aren't asking for AI to replace the practice team," said Dr Omran. "They're telling us they just want someone, or something, to answer the phone. The trust is already there for the practical, high-volume stuff. That's exactly where AI should be doing the heavy lifting, so reception teams can focus on the conversations that need a human." 

Conversico is the company behind Greeta, an AI voice agent built specifically for dental practices to answer missed, overflow and out-of-hours calls, and book appointments directly into practice management systems. The company was founded by Dr Ahmed Omran, Dr Sheliza Darvesh and Dr Peter Strain, and is due to exhibit at Dentistry Show London on 9–10 October at Excel London.