Dental office voicemail greeting examples: eight scripts ready to record
A dental office voicemail greeting has one job: in under 30 seconds, tell the patient they rang the right practice, why nobody is answering, when you are open, where to go in a dental emergency, and how to cancel or move an appointment. Below are eight ready-to-record scripts for a Belgian practice, from the busy line on a Monday morning to the holiday closure and a trilingual Brussels version, with the regional on-call lines already written in. Replace everything in square brackets, read it aloud once with a timer, and record.
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 every dental office voicemail should say
Seven things, and nothing a patient does not need in order to act. Keep it under about 30 seconds when spoken. Directions, parking and your list of treatments belong on your website, not in the greeting.
- The practice name, so the caller knows they dialled the right number.
- Why nobody is answering: the line is busy, it is lunchtime, the practice is closed, or you are on holiday.
- Your opening hours, or the day you reopen.
- What to do in a dental emergency: the dental on-call service for your region on the days it runs, your own arrangement on the days it does not, and 112 when a life is in danger.
- How to cancel or move an appointment: calling back, e-mail, online booking or a text message, whichever your team actually reads.
- When you will call back, but only if the team can keep that promise.
- The language or languages you answer in, which the greeting shows simply by using them.
Voicemail greeting when the line is busy during opening hours
Use this when the front desk is with a patient or already on a call. It turns a missed call into a callback, and it tells an urgent caller how to be heard first.
“Hello, you have reached [practice name]. We are with a patient or on another call right now. Please leave your name and phone number after the tone, and we will call you back [today]. If it is urgent, say so at the start of your message. To cancel or move an appointment, you can also [e-mail us at address / book online at website]. In a life-threatening emergency, call 112. Thank you.”
Voicemail greeting for the lunch break
Say the time you are back, not only that you are away. A patient who knows the desk reopens at 13:30 can ring at 13:30.
“Hello, you have reached [practice name]. The front desk is closed for lunch from [12:30] to [13:30]. Please call back after [13:30], or leave your name and phone number after the tone and we will call you back this afternoon. To cancel or move an appointment, you can also [e-mail us / book online at website]. In a life-threatening emergency, call 112. Thank you, and have a good day.”
Dental office closed or after hours: the voicemail with the on-call service
This is the greeting most patients hear, in the evening, at the weekend and on public holidays, so it is the one that has to carry the emergency route. The Belgian dental on-call service, the wachtdienst in Dutch and the garde dentaire in French, runs on weekends, public holidays and bridge days only. On an ordinary weekday evening there is no dental on-call line at all.
So say what your practice wants a patient in pain to do on a weekday evening: your own emergency number if you offer one, a colleague, or 1733, the out-of-hours GP service. That choice belongs to the practice. The greeting only reads it out.
“Hello, you have reached [practice name]. The practice is closed. We are open [days and hours]. To make, move or cancel an appointment, please call back during opening hours [or book online at website]. For urgent dental care on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, call the dental on-call service on [on-call number], between [hours]. I repeat: [on-call number]. [On weekday evenings: your own arrangement.] In a life-threatening emergency, call 112. Thank you.”
In Wallonia there is no number to read out. Replace the on-call sentence with: “For urgent dental care at the weekend, on a public holiday or a bridge day, find the dentist on duty at dentistedegarde.be, and call them before you go.”
| Region | Dental on-call line | When it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Flanders | 0903 39 969, Dutch-language, a premium-rate line at 1.50 euro per minute | Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and bridge days, 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Brussels | 02 426 10 26, French-language. The Dutch-language line 0903 39 969 covers Brussels as well | 02 426 10 26: Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and bridge days, 09:00 to 17:00 |
| Wallonia | No single number. The dentist on duty appears on the map at dentistedegarde.be, with a number to call before going | Weekends, public holidays and bridge days recognised by the RIZIV/INAMI |
Holiday voicemail for a dental office
Give the dates a patient can act on: the last day, the first day back, and who covers in between. Name a colleague only if they have agreed to see your patients and are not away the same weeks. Record it a few days before you leave, and put switching it off in the diary for the morning you reopen.
“Hello, you have reached [practice name]. The practice is closed for the holidays from [date] up to and including [date]. We are back on [day and date]. For urgent dental care in the meantime, please contact [colleague’s practice] on [phone number]. On Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and bridge days, you can also call the dental on-call service on [on-call number], between [hours]. In a life-threatening emergency, call 112. Thank you.”
Unexpected closure: illness or a training day
The one nobody writes until it is needed. Keep it recorded and ready to switch on, so whoever opens up with bad news does not have to compose it on the spot.
“Hello, you have reached [practice name]. Because of [illness / unforeseen circumstances], the practice is closed today, [day and date]. If you had an appointment today, we will contact you to arrange a new one. [You do not need to call us.] For urgent dental care today, please contact [colleague’s practice] on [phone number]. In a life-threatening emergency, call 112. Thank you for your understanding.”
Voicemail when the practice is not taking new patients
In Flanders this is an everyday question at the front desk. When VRT telephoned 40 randomly selected Flemish practices in March 2023 and tried to book, 25 of the 40 had a patient stop. Saying it in the greeting saves a new caller the wait, and saves your team the same conversation over and over.
Add the second sentence below to any of the other greetings, or record it as a greeting of its own:
“Hello, you have reached [practice name]. Please note that we are not taking on new patients at the moment. [If you would like to go on our waiting list, leave your name and phone number after the tone.] Patients of the practice can make, move or cancel an appointment by calling back during opening hours, [days and hours]. In a life-threatening emergency, call 112. Thank you for your understanding.”
Bilingual voicemail for Brussels: French and Dutch
Open with a greeting in both languages, so every caller knows within two seconds that their language is coming. Then give each language the full message, with the on-call line that answers in that language. This version is for a closed practice.
- French first: « Bonjour, goeiedag. Vous êtes bien au cabinet dentaire [nom du cabinet]. Le cabinet est fermé. Nous sommes ouverts [jours et heures]. Pour une urgence dentaire le week-end, un jour férié ou un jour de pont, appelez la garde dentaire au 02 426 10 26, de 9 h à 17 h. En cas d’urgence vitale, composez le 112. »
- Then Dutch: “U bent verbonden met tandartspraktijk [naam praktijk]. De praktijk is gesloten. We zijn open [dagen en uren]. Voor dringende tandzorg in het weekend, op een feestdag of een brugdag belt u de tandartswachtdienst op 0903 39 969, tussen 9 en 18 uur. Bij levensgevaar belt u 112. Dank u wel, merci.”
Trilingual voicemail: French, Dutch and English
Three languages will not fit in 30 seconds, so keep each one to the essentials: closed, when you are open, and the emergency route. Put how to cancel on your website instead. Outside Brussels, swap in the on-call line for your region.
- Opening: “Bonjour, goeiedag, hello. [Practice name].”
- French: « Le cabinet est fermé. Nous sommes ouverts [jours et heures]. Pour une urgence dentaire le week-end, un jour férié ou un jour de pont, appelez le 02 426 10 26. En cas d’urgence vitale, composez le 112. »
- Dutch: “De praktijk is gesloten. We zijn open [dagen en uren]. Voor dringende tandzorg in het weekend, op een feestdag of een brugdag belt u 0903 39 969. Bij levensgevaar belt u 112.”
- English: “The practice is closed. We are open [days and hours]. For urgent dental care at the weekend, on a public holiday or a bridge day, call 02 426 10 26. In a life-threatening emergency, call 112. Thank you, merci, dank u wel.”
Mistakes to avoid in a dental office voicemail
- Too long. A welcome speech, your list of treatments and the way to the car park push the emergency route to the end of a long message.
- No emergency route, or an on-call number without its days and hours. A patient in pain on a Tuesday night is then sent to a line that only runs at weekends.
- Asking for medical details. “Describe your symptoms after the tone” turns your voicemail box into a store of health data. Ask for a name and a phone number.
- A callback promise the team cannot keep. “We will call you back within the hour”, recorded on a quiet Tuesday, is still playing on a busy Monday. Promise “today” or “the next working day”, and keep it.
- An outdated holiday message. A patient who hears in September that you are closed until 15 August no longer knows whether you are open.
- Numbers read too fast. Say every phone number slowly, in small groups, and twice.
A voicemail takes a message. It does not book.
Every message left overnight is a callback for the morning, and not every caller leaves one. If the practice would rather the call be answered, an AI receptionist can pick up on your own number, in the patient’s language, and book, move or cancel the appointment in your diary during the call. Tilcao is one. On a call about pain it does what a good greeting does: it reads out the routing the practice wrote, repeats the number, and never judges the complaint.
Since 2 August 2026, Article 50 of the EU AI Act has required that a caller be told they are speaking to an AI, so the disclosure comes in the first sentence. This is how it sounds:
“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?”
Questions practices ask
How long should a dental office voicemail greeting be?
Under about 30 seconds when spoken. That is enough for the practice name, the reason nobody is answering, your hours, the emergency route and how to cancel. Read it aloud with a timer before you record. A bilingual or trilingual greeting runs longer, so keep each language to the essentials and move everything else to your website.
Should the voicemail give the dental on-call number?
Yes, together with its days and hours, because the Belgian dental on-call service runs only on weekends, public holidays and bridge days. In Flanders, and for Dutch speakers in Brussels, that is 0903 39 969 from 09:00 to 18:00, a premium-rate line at 1.50 euro per minute. French-speaking Brussels has 02 426 10 26 from 09:00 to 17:00. Wallonia has no single number, only the map at dentistedegarde.be. Say the number twice, and check it again before every new recording.
Which language goes first in a Brussels voicemail?
The language most of your patients speak. Open with a greeting in both, “Bonjour, goeiedag”, so the other group knows within two seconds that their language follows. Then give each language the complete message, including the on-call line that answers in that language, rather than a full version in one and a summary in the other.
Can we record the greeting ourselves on our phone system?
Yes. Most business phone systems let you record the greeting from a handset or upload an audio file, and your telephone provider’s manual has the exact steps. Record in a quiet room, from a written text, at a calm pace. Then ring the practice from a mobile and listen to it the way a patient will.
What about GDPR when patients leave a voicemail?
A message that says why someone is ringing a dentist is health data under Article 9 of the GDPR, and professional secrecy under Article 458 of the Strafwetboek / Code pénal applies to what the practice learns from it. So ask only for a name and a phone number, let only the people who return calls listen, and delete messages once they are handled. If your voicemail sits on your telephone provider’s platform rather than on a box in the practice, that provider processes it on your behalf, which belongs in an Article 28 processing agreement.
Who should record the practice voicemail?
Someone with a calm, clear voice who speaks the language natively. In a bilingual greeting, use a native speaker for each language if the team has one. It is often the first thing a patient hears of the practice, so it is worth a second take.