How do dental practices handle missed calls after hours?

I'm curious how dental practices deal with this.

If a patient calls after hours and nobody answers, what usually happens?

Do you:

Have voicemail?

Ask them to call back during opening hours?

Have an answering service?

Let them book online?

Or simply accept that some calls will be missed?

I'm particularly interested in what happens when the caller is a new patient looking to book an appointment.

Do you have any idea how many calls your practice misses outside normal hours?

I'm working on something related to this and would really appreciate hearing how actual practices handle it.

Posted Aug 8, 2026, 5:26 PM UTC

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