Secure, Smart VoIP Services for Dentists and Your Business

A dental practice puts voice traffic and imaging traffic on the same network, and they want opposite things from it. Voice needs small packets delivered consistently. Imaging sends very large files in bursts, usually at the exact moment a patient is in the chair. Without traffic prioritisation the scan wins and the caller hears the call break up, which is why a phone system that tested perfectly can sound poor once the practice is busy.

This is a network design question rather than a phone question, and it is the single most common reason VoIP disappoints in a dental office.

The reason to move a dental practice to VoIP is not the monthly bill. It is what the phone system can do once it can talk to the software the front desk already lives in.

A call arrives and the patient's chart opens before anyone picks up. Voicemail arrives as email so messages are not sitting in a handset overnight. Missed calls are visible as a list rather than a guess, which matters because a missed call in a dental practice is usually a booking that went somewhere else. Practices running Dentrix, Open Dental, Eaglesoft and Weave can generally get some form of this, and what is possible depends on which platform and which version, so it is worth establishing before choosing a system rather than after.

Call recordings, voicemail transcriptions and messaging features can contain protected health information. A patient leaving a voicemail about a symptom has created a record subject to the same safeguards as their chart, which means the phone system needs the same treatment as any other system holding patient data, including a Business Associate Agreement with the provider.

Federal law also sets requirements for emergency calling on VoIP systems. Under Kari's Law a multi-line system must allow 911 to be dialled without an access code first, and RAY BAUM'S Act requires that a dispatchable location, enough for responders to find the caller, is transmitted with the call. In a multi-operatory or multi-floor practice that is a configuration decision, not a default.

Number porting takes time and cannot be rushed on the day. A practice cannot afford to lose the number patients have been calling for years, so porting is scheduled first and the cutover happens around it.

Call routing should reflect how the practice actually runs, including who picks up during procedures, what happens at lunch and where after-hours calls land. And handsets need power and network in the right places, which is far cheaper to solve during a buildout than afterwards.

A look at the current phone setup, how the network handles voice alongside imaging, which practice management platform is in use and what porting the existing numbers involves. Legend has worked in the IT industry since 2004 and supports dental practices from Dallas, Texas.