AI dental receptionist for practices in Belgium: what it does, and what it never does
An AI dental receptionist answers the practice phone and WhatsApp, books the patient into the diary, and passes anything clinical to a person. Tilcao is that AI receptionist for dental practices and clinics in Belgium. It speaks Dutch, French and English, recognises the patient, checks what is really free, and books, moves or cancels in the practice’s own software. Between calls it works the diary: gaps, the waiting list, confirmations, reminders and recalls. It never judges pain or urgency. Those calls go to a named person at the practice, on the practice’s own rule.
Tilcao is the operating system for dental practices in Belgium: its AI receptionist answers patient calls and WhatsApp messages in Dutch, French and English, and books, moves and cancels appointments in the practice’s own software.
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What does an AI dental receptionist do?
It takes the front-desk work that arrives by phone and WhatsApp, and finishes it. Tilcao answers in Dutch, French or English, recognises the patient, reads real availability, and books, moves or cancels the appointment in the practice’s own diary. Questions about the practice are answered from a knowledge base the practice writes and controls. Pain, clinical questions and anything urgent go to a named person, on the practice’s own rule.
The work does not stop when the phone does. Tilcao is built as a team of AI agents for dental practices, not a single voice on a line. The same system that answers the phone also watches the diary and acts on it.
- Spots a gap in the diary and offers it to a patient who wants an earlier slot.
- Offers a slot freed by a cancellation to the patients on the waiting list, straight away.
- Sends the confirmation and the reminder, and acts on the reply.
- Recalls patients who are due for a check-up.
- Leaves a structured summary of every conversation for the team.
A dental AI front desk, a telesecretariat or online booking?
Each solves a different problem. A human telesecretariat puts a trained person on your line during staffed hours. Online booking lets patients book themselves, if they go looking. An AI front desk answers every call and message at any hour, and writes the appointment into your diary during the conversation.
Online booking waits for the patient. The agent answers the patient. Plenty of patients still pick up the phone, and they ring about things a booking page cannot handle: moving an appointment, a question about parking, a worry.
A human telesecretariat does one thing better, and it is worth saying. A person hears distress, follows a muddled story and improvises. Tilcao does not improvise. It hands those calls to your team with a summary, so nobody starts from zero.
| Human telesecretariat | Online booking | AI receptionist (Tilcao) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who makes the first move | The patient phones | The patient goes online and books | The patient phones or writes on WhatsApp |
| Hours | The hours the service is staffed | Always open | Every hour, including evenings, weekends and public holidays |
| Languages | Those of the operator who picks up | Those the booking page offers | Dutch, French and English, switching mid-call |
| Where the appointment ends up | In your diary if the service has access, otherwise a message to call back | In the online agenda, and in your software where the two are synchronised | Written into your diary during the call, on real availability |
| Moves, cancellations and questions | Handled on the script you supplied | Moves and cancellations if the page allows them. Questions go unanswered | Handled in the conversation, from your knowledge base |
| The unusual or distressed caller | A trained person. The strongest argument for this option | Not reached. The patient has to phone anyway | Handed to a named person, with what was said |
Does an AI receptionist replace your dental assistant?
No. It takes the phone off the hands of the person at the chair. In many Belgian practices the dental assistant also runs the desk, and the phone rings mid-treatment, gloves on. Tilcao takes the calls that are only a booking, a move, a cancellation or the same question about opening hours.
Your team keeps the work that needs a person: the patient at the desk, the anxious caller, the exception no rule foresaw, and anything clinical. Any patient can ask for a person at any moment. A practice buying this to cut a post will be disappointed. It is built to give the assistant back to the chair.
What do patients hear when the AI answers?
That they are speaking to an AI, in the first sentence, before anything else. Article 50 of the EU AI Act has required this since 2 August 2026. The caller also hears that the call is recorded, and can ask for a person at any moment. Asking once is enough.
A typical opening: “Hello, you have reached the dental practice. You are speaking to the practice’s AI assistant and this call is recorded. How can I help you today?” The practice can change the wording. It cannot remove the disclosure.
The voice is chosen by ear for each language, so the Dutch sounds Flemish and the French sounds Belgian. An appointment-booking agent is not a high-risk AI system, and Tilcao claims no conformity assessment it has not done.
Which dental practice software does it work with?
The one you already run. Your practice software stays the record, and Tilcao works with it, not instead of it. It reads the diary, and creates, moves and cancels the appointment types you allow. Nothing else.
In Belgium that takes more than a plug. No Belgian dental practice system publishes an open, documented booking API, so there is no universal connector. The route is the online agenda in front of your software, or an arrangement with your vendor. We look at your setup and say what is possible before a pilot. Where no route exists yet, Tilcao says so and leaves a structured task for the desk, never a pretend booking.
Tilcao is not a practice management system and is not on the MyCareNet approved-software list. It never attests, never invoices and never writes in the clinical record. eAttest, eFact and the rest stay in your own software.
NIC/CIN list of MyCareNet-approved Belgian dental software, version of 10 March 2026
Is an AI receptionist allowed under GDPR and professional secrecy?
It can be, and that is settled between the practice and the supplier, not by the software. The practice is the controller and Tilcao is the processor. A processing agreement under Article 28 of the GDPR is signed before the first real patient call, with every sub-processor named in its annex.
A dental call is health data under Article 9, and professional secrecy under Article 458 of the Strafwetboek / Code pénal applies on top of the GDPR. So only people under a written duty of confidentiality can read a transcript, and every read is logged. Processing stays in the EU and the EEA. The security page covers the rest: retention, recordings, erasure and what Tilcao does not claim.
Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit / Autorité de protection des données, guidance on sensitive data
What does an AI dental receptionist cost?
Tilcao publishes no price. It is priced per practice and agreed on a call. Tilcao is pre-pilot, and a number quoted before a real practice has been measured would be a guess.
What moves the price is concrete: which channels you open, which agents you switch on, how many calls come in, how many practitioners and sites you have, and what the link to your diary takes. Trying the demo practice on the home page costs nothing.
Questions practices ask
Does an AI receptionist replace my dental assistant or secretary?
No. It takes the repetitive calls and messages: bookings, moves, cancellations, confirmations, reminders and the same questions all day. Your assistant keeps the patient in the chair, the patient at the desk, and every call that needs a person. Pain, anything clinical, anything outside your rules and anyone who asks for a human go to your team.
What happens with urgent calls and patients in pain?
Tilcao stops booking and follows your practice’s rule. It never names a condition, never judges urgency and never suggests a medicine. During opening hours the call goes to a named person, with what the patient said. Out of hours it states the route you chose and repeats the number twice: in Belgium that means the wachtdienst or garde dentaire on weekends, public holidays and bridge days, 1733 for out-of-hours general practice, and 112 for an emergency.
Does Tilcao work with DentAdmin, CareConnect Dentist or other Belgian dental software?
Tilcao sits alongside the package you run, whether that is DentAdmin, CareConnect Dentist, Titanium, e-Dent, Octopus, Dent Open or Crossuite. What it can do with yours depends on the route into your diary. None of these packages publishes an open booking API, so the route is the online agenda in front of it or an arrangement with your vendor. We check your setup before a pilot. You never change software to use Tilcao.
How is an AI receptionist priced for a dental practice?
Per practice, on a call. There is no public price list and no “from” price. The price follows the channels, the agents you switch on, the call volume, the number of practitioners and sites, and the work the diary link takes. The fair comparison is what the phone already costs you: telesecretariat invoices and the desk time the phone takes.
Does the AI receptionist answer WhatsApp as well as the phone?
Yes. A patient who cannot get through often writes instead of ringing back. Tilcao answers the WhatsApp message with the same rules and the same diary as a call: it identifies the patient, books, moves or cancels, and hands over whatever falls outside your rules. Confirmations and reminders can go out by WhatsApp, SMS or email.
Does the AI understand Flemish dialects and bilingual callers in Brussels?
It is built for Dutch as spoken in Belgium, with a Flemish voice, and it follows a Brussels caller who switches between French, Dutch and English mid-call. Strong dialect is still hard, for an AI and sometimes for a person from outside the region. So Tilcao never guesses. It asks the caller to repeat or spell, and if it is still unclear, it hands over to a person.
Must patients be told they are talking to an AI?
Yes. Article 50 of the EU AI Act has required it since 2 August 2026, and Tilcao says it in the first sentence of every call, in the caller’s language. You do not have to say it yourself. What stays with your practice is your own privacy notice and the processing agreement.
How long does it take to go live?
There is no fixed number of days yet, because Tilcao is pre-pilot and we will not invent one. What sets the pace is known: how complete your knowledge base is, how your appointment types are set up, and the route into your diary. Nothing goes live before it has run end to end on the demo practice and the processing agreement is signed. You keep your number, forward the line, and can switch it back yourself.