{"id":3250,"date":"2026-04-23T13:08:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dentina.ai\/articles\/?p=3250"},"modified":"2026-04-24T15:23:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T23:23:05","slug":"excel-dental-after-hours-and-overflow-calls-case-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dentina.ai\/articles\/excel-dental-after-hours-and-overflow-calls-case-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Excel Dental: Capturing After-Hours and Overflow Calls with Dentina.Ai"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Dental Group Overview<\/h2>\n<p>Excel Dental is a modern, doctor-led east coast DSO founded by Dr.\u00a0Chad Patel, a Boston University School of Dental Medicine graduate who has built a reputation for advanced, multi-specialty dental care and a relentless focus on patient experience. Excel Dental uses Dentina for <strong>after-hours and overflow call handling<\/strong> with staff transfer for escalation. By answering calls that would otherwise route to voicemail or go unanswered during peak times, Dentina helps capture bookings and reduce front-desk workload.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.exceldentalmanagement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dentina.ai\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/excel-dental-logo.png\" alt=\"Excel Dental logo\" style=\"max-width: 200px; height: auto; border-radius: 6px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.exceldentalmanagement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Visit Excel Dental Management \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Results at a glance<\/h2>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th scope=\"col\">Metric<\/th>\n<th scope=\"col\">Result<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Avg calls handled by Dentina per month (after-hours + overflow)<\/td>\n<td><strong>1,512.5<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Avg appointments booked by Dentina per month (53.2\/mo new + 47.8\/mo existing)<\/td>\n<td><strong>101.0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Calls transferred to staff for escalation<\/td>\n<td><strong>18%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Hours of front desk time saved per year<\/td>\n<td><strong>1,663.8<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>First-year production potential from Dentina booked appts<\/td>\n<td><strong>$2,694,048<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Wage time value savings (excluding taxes, benefits, and overhead)<\/td>\n<td><strong>~$34,107<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>A DentistryIQ analysis of 12,500+ practices reported average gross production per new dental patient receiving a comprehensive exam of roughly $4,016-$4,220.<\/p>\n<h2>What other dental groups and practices can take away<\/h2>\n<p><strong>The DSO-level win:<\/strong> consistent coverage + measurable outcomes (calls handled, bookings, transfers, schedule changes) <strong>without adding headcount at every site.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Replace \u201cvoicemail + callbacks\u201d with Tier-1 automation:<\/strong> Dentina answers first, handles routine requests, and escalates only exceptions\u2014reducing leakage across locations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reduce dependence on costly answering services\/call centers:<\/strong> standardizes patient access and quality without adding headcount at every office.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Give teams time back where it matters:<\/strong> front desks stay focused on in-office patients, insurance\/collections, and treatment coordination while Dentina absorbs call volume spikes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The challenge<\/h2>\n<p>Like many dental organizations, Excel Dental faces a familiar front-office reality:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Calls spike when the team is busiest (patient check-in\/out, insurance questions, chair turnover).<\/li>\n<li>After-hours calls traditionally go to voicemail\u2014creating follow-up work the next day and a higher chance the caller simply moves on.<\/li>\n<li>Multi-location teams need consistent, scalable coverage without adding headcount at every site.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This matters because <strong>phone calls still drive a large portion of dental scheduling<\/strong>. Industry data suggests that the average practice <strong>misses 30-40% of inbound calls<\/strong>, and a large portion of bookings happen <strong>outside<\/strong> business hours.<\/p>\n<p>Excel Dental wanted a solution that could:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Answer after-hours and overflow calls<\/strong> instead of sending callers to voicemail<\/li>\n<li><strong>Book common appointment types<\/strong> reliably and consistently<\/li>\n<li><strong>Escalate<\/strong> to staff when needed through transfers<\/li>\n<li>Work across a multi-location footprint with minimal operational burden<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>The solution<\/h2>\n<p>Excel Dental deployed <strong>Dentina.Ai<\/strong> across all locations to answer calls that would otherwise have gone to voicemail (after-hours) or been missed during high-volume periods (overflow).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Appointment types supported<\/strong> included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>New Patient Exam + Cleaning (Adult\/Child)<\/li>\n<li>Existing Patient Exam + Cleaning (Adult\/Child)<\/li>\n<li>Emergency appointments<\/li>\n<li>Rescheduling and cancellations<\/li>\n<li>General consultations<\/li>\n<li>Cosmetic consultation<\/li>\n<li>Implant consultation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Dentina was also configured to <strong>transfer calls for escalation<\/strong> when appropriate &#8211; giving Excel Dental a safety valve for complex requests, urgent needs, and edge cases.<\/p>\n<p>Example transfer scenarios, include a patient wanting to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Discuss a recent bill.<\/li>\n<li>Talk through their treatment plan options.<\/li>\n<li>Request a prescription.<\/li>\n<li>Speak with a live representative, when it\u2019s an emergency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Implementation approach<\/h2>\n<p>Excel Dental\u2019s configuration prioritized optimized front desk coverage:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>After-hours + overflow routing:<\/strong> Dentina handled calls when the front desk could not.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Standardized scheduling flows:<\/strong> A consistent patient experience across locations and appointment types.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Escalation transfers:<\/strong> Dentina transferred calls to staff when needed rather than forcing every call into a self-serve workflow.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Estimated value impact<\/h2>\n<p>For DSOs, call centers can come with additional headaches: lack of consistency, quality, reliability in calls handled. While any missed calls aren\u2019t just \u201cvoicemails\u201d &#8211; they\u2019re patient leakage, inconsistent access across locations, and higher overhead (extra front-desk staffing, answering services, or call centers). Excel Dental used Dentina as Tier 1 for after-hours and overflow calls across their locations, with live transfer escalation when needed.<\/p>\n<p>Based on recent averages, Excel Dental saw:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Capacity created:<\/strong> 1,663.8 hours of front desk time saved per year equates to ~$34,107\/year in receptionist wage\u2011time value saved (MA $20.50\/hr, excluding taxes\/benefits\/overhead). This is money that would have been spent on the same tasks that Dentina is handling.<\/li>\n<li><strong>New-patient growth:<\/strong> 53.2 new patient appointments booked per month, up to $2,694,048 first\u2011year production potential (using $4,220 per new patient).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Kept-appointment sensitivity:<\/strong> If 60\u201380% of those booked new-patient appointments are ultimately kept, the estimated first-year production captured would range from ~$1.62M to ~$2.16M (excluding the incremental value from existing-patient bookings).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Schedule protection:<\/strong> ~61.9 reschedules and cancellations per month handled by Dentina &#8211; less phone tag and faster backfill across sites.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As Dentina\u2019s performance optimized over time, monthly volume and outcomes increased:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Monthly inbound calls grew from <strong>1,415 (Mar 2025)<\/strong> to <strong>2,024 (Jan 2026)<\/strong> (+43%)<\/li>\n<li>New-patient appointments grew from <strong>39 (Mar 2025)<\/strong> to <strong>67 (Jan 2026)<\/strong> (+72%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This pattern is common when practices expand routing confidence and patients learn that calling after-hours still gets a real response.<\/p>\n<h2>How to read these results<\/h2>\n<p>These metrics are designed to show how much inbound demand was captured (after-hours + overflow) and how much routine scheduling work was handled without interrupting staff.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Inbound calls:<\/strong> calls routed to Dentina during after-hours and overflow coverage windows.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Interaction rate:<\/strong> % of inbound calls where the caller engaged with Dentina (excluding immediate hang-ups\/abandoned calls).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Appointment booked:<\/strong> an appointment placed on the schedule; the kept rate is tracked separately in the practice management system.<\/li>\n<li><strong>End-to-end resolution:<\/strong> the caller\u2019s request was completed without a live staff transfer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Transfer (escalation safety valve):<\/strong> calls connected to staff when a human should step in (e.g., urgent clinical concerns, complex billing\/insurance questions, or unusual scheduling requests).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em style=\"font-size: revert; text-align: center; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Dentina is an AI receptionist built for dental practices &#8211; designed to capture more opportunities while reducing front-desk burden.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sources<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onetonline.org\/link\/summary\/43-4171.00\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">O*NET Online &#8211; Receptionists and Information Clerks (Massachusetts wages)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.carecredit.com\/dentistry\/costs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">CareCredit &#8211; Dental costs overview (exam\/cleaning pricing benchmark)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dentistryiq.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DentistryIQ &#8211; New patient value analysis (Sikka data summary)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/groupdentistrynow.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Group Dentistry Now &#8211; Patient communication and missed-call context<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Excel Dental is an east coast DSO using Dentina for after-hours and overflow call handling with staff transfer for escalation. By answering calls that would otherwise route to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-case-studies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dentina.ai\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dentina.ai\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dentina.ai\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dentina.ai\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dentina.ai\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3250"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/dentina.ai\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3292,"href":"https:\/\/dentina.ai\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250\/revisions\/3292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dentina.ai\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dentina.ai\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dentina.ai\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dentina.ai\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}