--- title: How Long Does AI Receptionist Setup Take? (Dental) | Callura description: Callura goes live in under one week with less than two hours of your team’s time. What “live” should mean, what we need from you, and the four steps. image: https://www.blog.callura.io/hubfs/setup-time-featured-v2.png --- [Skip to content](https://www.blog.callura.io/callura-blog/how-long-does-ai-receptionist-setup-take#main-content) [![Callura](https://www.blog.callura.io/hubfs/Logo%20(Black)%20(5).svg)Homepage](https://www.calluravoice.ai/) - [Home](https://www.calluravoice.ai/) - [Features](https://www.calluravoice.ai/features) - [Blog](https://www.blog.callura.io/callura-blog) - [Security](https://www.calluravoice.ai/security) - [Careers](https://www.calluravoice.ai/careers) - [Contact](https://www.calluravoice.ai/contact) - [Log In](https://dashboard.calluravoice.ai/login) [Talk to a Founder](https://cal.com/callura/15minutes?overlayCalendar=true) - [Home](https://www.calluravoice.ai/) - [Features](https://www.calluravoice.ai/features) - [Blog](https://www.blog.callura.io/callura-blog) - [Security](https://www.calluravoice.ai/security) - [Careers](https://www.calluravoice.ai/careers) - [Contact](https://www.calluravoice.ai/contact) - [Log In](https://dashboard.calluravoice.ai/login) [Talk to a Founder](https://cal.com/callura/15minutes?overlayCalendar=true) ![Live in under a week, taught by your front desk: what setting up an AI virtual assistant takes from your practice](https://www.blog.callura.io/hs-fs/hubfs/setup-time-featured-v2.png?width=1200&height=628&name=setup-time-featured-v2.png) AI Voice Agents # How Long Does It Take to Set Up an AI Receptionist for a Dental Practice? ![Callura](https://7528315.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/7528315/hubfs/raw_assets/public/mV0_d-cms-elevate-theme_hubspot/elevate/images/avatar-placeholder.jpg?width=48&height=48&name=avatar-placeholder.jpg) Callura October 7, 2026 Slim Dental, the largest dental practice in Manhattan, gets about 1,500 calls a week across three offices. Before our AI virtual assistant answered a single one of them, it had to know what their front desk knows by heart: - One doctor is in-network with Delta at one location but not the other. - Some specialists take a transfer, not a booking. - The kids’ practice has its own line and its own greeting. - The office phone rings first. If nobody picks up in 15 seconds, the assistant answers. None of that was written down in one place. It lived in the heads of the people who answer the phones every day. That’s the real work of setting up an AI receptionist, and it’s why a promise of “setup in minutes” should make you curious about what exactly is being set up. **Short answer: Callura goes live in under one week and takes less than two hours of your team’s time. “Live” means answering your real patient calls and booking into your practice management system, not a demo agent. Your team fills out one form and joins one follow-up call. We do the rest.** ## What “live” should mean Some AI tools advertise setup in minutes. Read closely: that usually means a test agent you can call, not one booking real patients into Dentrix or Open Dental. When you compare vendors, ask three things: 1. Does “live” mean a test call, or real patients booking into our schedule? 2. When does the clock start: when we sign, or when you have what you need from us? 3. How much of our team’s time does it take? For Callura, live means real calls and real bookings, and the week starts once we have your onboarding answers and access to your PMS. ## What we need from you It all goes on one simple form. Most of it already lives in your front desk’s head, which is exactly why we ask for the files you already use to train your team. - **Hours and locations.** Including the days you’re closed. Plenty of practices close Fridays, and some Mondays too. - **Providers.** Who sees which patients, at which location, on which days. - **Insurance plans you accept.** By location and by provider, if they differ. - **The files you already use to train your front desk.** Scripts, cheat sheets, FAQs. If it helps a new hire, it helps us. - **Workflows specific to your practice.** Appointment types and lengths, how urgent calls are handled, who gets which transfers. ## The four steps to go live 1. **You fill out the form.** Hours, providers, accepted insurance plans, your front desk training files and your practice’s own workflows. 2. **We build your assistant and connect your PMS.** This takes a few days on our side. If your PMS needs a user account for us, the sooner your team sets it up, the sooner you’re live. 3. **We test for a few days.** Real call types, your real rules, before a single patient hears it. 4. **One follow-up call.** You approve it, we switch on call forwarding together, and we walk your team through the dashboard. That’s it. Total time from your team: less than two hours. Many practices start with after-hours calls first, then add overflow during the day once the team is comfortable. ## What can slow it down - **PMS access.** Some systems need a user account or an approval before we can connect. This is the step that most often decides how fast you go live, and it’s usually a few minutes of your team’s time. - **Phone forwarding.** Some carriers make no-answer forwarding harder to set up than it should be. We walk you through it. - **Undecided rules.** If your team isn’t sure how a call type should be handled, we decide that together before launch rather than guess. ## How we test before your patients hear it 1. A new patient booking the right appointment type with the right provider. 2. An existing patient rescheduling and cancelling. 3. “Do you take my insurance?” 4. A patient in pain, routed by your urgent-call rules. 5. A transfer that nobody picks up, to make sure the caller still gets a callback note. 6. A time slot that isn’t available, so the assistant offers the next opening. ## After you’re live Every call is recorded and transcribed in your dashboard, so your team can see who booked, who was transferred and why. When something needs adjusting, you tell us and we change it. Your front desk stays in control the whole time. **If you’ve put off phone coverage because the last software switch took weeks, and you want a team that will do the heavy lifting while your front desk keeps doing their jobs, you’re exactly who we want to work with.** ## Frequently asked questions ### How long does it take to set up an AI receptionist for a dental practice? Callura goes live in under one week and takes less than two hours of your team’s time. Live means answering real patient calls and booking into your PMS, starting from when we have your onboarding answers and PMS access. ### What do I need to provide to set up an AI receptionist? One simple form: your hours and locations, providers, the insurance plans you accept, the files you use to train your front desk, and any workflows specific to your practice. Then PMS access and one follow-up call. ### Does my staff need training? Very little. Your team gets a short walkthrough of the dashboard where calls, bookings and transfers show up. They don’t have to learn a new schedule, because the assistant books into the PMS they already use. ### Can we start with after-hours calls only? Yes. Many practices start with after-hours and weekend calls, then add overflow during the day once the team is comfortable. ## Talk to a founder Bring your hours, your appointment types and the rules your front desk swears by. We’ll show you what your first week would look like. [**Talk to a founder**](https://cal.com/callura/15minutes?utm_source=callura_blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=setup_time) ## About Callura Callura builds AI virtual assistants for dental practices, med spas and other healthcare practices, trained on each practice’s workflows, services and FAQs. They answer calls 24/7, book appointments in your PMS, verify insurance eligibility and send SMS confirmations. [Follow Callura on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/110243957/). ## Share this post [mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blog.callura.io%2Fcallura-blog%2Fhow-long-does-ai-receptionist-setup-take](mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blog.callura.io%2Fcallura-blog%2Fhow-long-does-ai-receptionist-setup-take) ## Keep reading ### [![AI call answering for clinics, compared: who books into your PMS across every location](https://www.blog.callura.io/hs-fs/hubfs/clinic-platforms-featured.png?width=1200&height=628&name=clinic-platforms-featured.png) AI Voice Agents Best AI Call Answering Platforms for Clinics (2026) | Callura](https://www.blog.callura.io/callura-blog/best-ai-call-answering-platforms-for-clinics) ### [![What your voicemail really costs: the ROI of an AI virtual assistant for dental practices](https://www.blog.callura.io/hs-fs/hubfs/dental-roi-featured.png?width=1200&height=628&name=dental-roi-featured.png) AI Voice Agents AI Receptionist ROI for Dental Practices (2026 Guide) | Callura](https://www.blog.callura.io/callura-blog/ai-receptionist-roi-dental-practices) [![Callura](https://www.blog.callura.io/hubfs/Logo%20(Black)%20(5).svg "Callura")](https://www.calluravoice.ai/) - [Home](https://www.calluravoice.ai/) - [Features](https://www.calluravoice.ai/features) - [Blog](https://www.blog.callura.io/callura-blog) - [Security](https://www.calluravoice.ai/security) - [Careers](https://www.calluravoice.ai/careers) - [Contact](https://www.calluravoice.ai/contact) - [Log In](https://dashboard.calluravoice.ai/login) --- [Privacy Policy](https://www.calluravoice.ai/policy) · [Terms](https://www.calluravoice.ai/terms) · © 2026 Callura. 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