How and why we created DentalDial | AI Phone Systems for Dental Practices

I’ve been working with internet-based phone systems (VoIP telephones) for close to 20 years, and in that time I’ve seen the technology evolve at a remarkable pace. 

Features that once seemed futuristic like transcription, analytics and AI are now becoming essential. When we first started researching solutions, our aim wasn’t to change what we sold to customers. Instead, we needed something for ourselves: a phone system with built-in transcription and AI, but without the sky-high costs that usually accompany such tools. 

Over the years we’ve deployed and integrated countless systems: Sangoma (from Asterisk to FreePBX and later Switchvox), Gamma, Cisco, Avaya, and 3CX. Each platform has its strengths, but none had quite cracked AI-powered contact centre software available in the UK. Sangoma’s systems are excellent for core telephony, but (at least for now) don’t offer an AI-driven contact centre. 

So I kept watching the market closely, supporting our customers while quietly searching for the right solution for us, and AI phone system add-on app for dental practices.

How we created our AI phone system for dental practices

The Helpdesk Challenge 

Before founding Dental IT and Tenacity, my career was in helpdesk management. That experience shaped my perspective: I wanted technology that didn’t just benefit customers, but also transformed the way we worked internally. Switchvox had solid reporting and contact centre features, but what I really wanted - especially by 2024 - was the ability to instantly see what every single call was about throughout the day. 

This matters because, while we sell phones, internet, and security, our real core is helpdesk. Customers pay us to be available, approachable, and effective—answering their calls quickly, resolving issues professionally, and doing so with consistency. That consistent quality of service is the number one reason we’ve grown year after year. But it’s also the hardest thing to maintain, especially as teams expand. 

The reality is you can’t listen to every call, or even a meaningful fraction of them. And without AI, knowing what calls were about at scale is almost impossible. This is why AI in contact centres felt like the “holy grail.” 

I explored options like Genesys, 8x8, and Talkdesk. Talkdesk’s AI was particularly impressive, but the setup fee (around £20k) was prohibitive, and ongoing costs were vague. Prices were quoted per user per month, with “extra” charges based on call volume and length. The lack of transparency made it a big gamble. It was tempting, but in the end, we held off. 

And I’m glad we did, because in 2025 a much better (and cheaper) option appeared. 

The Zoom Revelation 

At the time, our wholesaler PXC was becoming a Zoom reseller and introduced me to their voice solutions. At first, I was sceptical. Zoom, to me, was a meetings platform. What did it have to do with contact centres? But then I learned about Zoom Contact Centre. 

This wasn’t just Zoom’s meetings product dressed up for business—it was a fully fledged, AI-driven contact centre that supported not only phone calls, but also emails, SMS, WhatsApp, and more. Best of all, AI integration was included at no extra cost. No hidden add-ons. No setup fees (provided you were happy to configure it yourself). Just a straightforward per-user licence. That alone was refreshing. 

I decided to roll it out internally, and the results were transformative. For the first time we had total control over call handling, data, and analytics. But I didn’t just want call logs and recordings—I wanted something cleaner: a simple, digestible view of what every call was about, categorised by topic, available at a glance. 

From Idea to Innovation 

This led us to a bigger idea. Zoom Phone, Zoom’s more streamlined telephony solution, offered many of the same features (including transcription and AI) at a lower cost, but without all the multichannel bells and whistles of Zoom Contact Centre. I wondered, could we combine the strengths of both? Could we create a call handling interface optimised for us, and then package it into a product for others? 

So we whiteboarded it. Both Zoom Contact Centre (ZCC) and Zoom Phone provide APIs, which meant we could integrate them with other platforms - or even build our own. APIs are crucial in modern business software because they make systems “stickier”: once integrated into workflows, they’re harder to replace. 

We tested pulling call transcripts from both Zoom Phone and ZCC, and it worked perfectly. Once we had transcripts, the next step was to process them. We engineered an AI prompt in the cloud, refined it over months, and built the foundation of what would become DentalDial.AI. 

Here’s how it works in practice: 

1. Transcript Retrieval – Every call ends, and the transcript is automatically pulled. 

2. AI Analysis – The transcript is fed to our AI prompt with set criteria. 

3. Database Storage – Results are stored in the cloud, structured for reporting. 

4. Automation – Triggers ensure every call is analysed and summarised without manual effort. 

The results are powerful yet simple: each call is summarised, categorised by topic, and available in easy-to-digest daily lists. Analytics on tone, handling quality, and other metrics are a bonus layer on top. 

To make this usable, we needed a client-facing interface. Drawing inspiration from the Zoom Workplace app, our dev team mocked up UI designs. Within months we had prototypes running, and soon after, a beta live in a dental practice. It wasn’t easy - Zoom’s API is notoriously complex, and packaging a professional app that auto-updates securely is no small feat - but our dev team had the skills to get it done. 

The result was an app where AI isn’t just an add-on, it’s the entire workflow engine. Without AI, it would be meaningless. With it, it’s transformative. 

Beyond Dentistry 

While our initial focus was the dental sector (hence the name DentalDial.AI), we quickly realised the model applied elsewhere too. For dental practices, the app looks for treatment-related keywords (e.g. whitening, implants). For IT support teams, it identifies issues like “printing” or “Office 365.” The principle is the same: use AI to understand, summarise, and categorise calls automatically. 

That flexibility makes DentalDial.AI more than a niche product, it’s a platform that can be adapted to any vertical, from healthcare to retail to professional services. 

And that’s why we’re so excited about its future. 

In short: 

• 20 years of experience with IP telephony led us here. 

• Zoom’s ecosystem gave us the platform. 

• AI turned transcripts into actionable insights. 

• And our dev team turned an idea into a product: DentalDial.AI. 

It started as a way to make our own helpdesk better. Now, it’s a scalable solution that could transform how any business handles and understands its calls. 

Book a demo call today.