AI in Dentistry: Where to Start, AI Receptionists & Why Your SOPs Matter | Laura Nelson

Is your dental team ready for AI, or are you about to buy tools nobody will use? Laura Nelson, VP of AI Training and Development at Mango Voice and founder of Front Office Rocks, explains where practices should start, why AI only works as well as your written systems, and how to keep a human in the loop. In this episode: - Why "using AI" means very different things from office to office - AI call notes, AI receptionists, and practicing phone skills with AI patients - De-escalation training for tough front desk calls - Why AI will fail without written SOPs, and how AI makes writing them easier - Call transcripts, HIPAA and the lawsuit a transcript stopped - Your team is already using AI: set rules before patient data ends up in ChatGPT - Why soft skills matter more once AI takes over the busy work - AI-run practices vs. human-first practices: where dentistry is headed 📰 Plus dental news: HR 1521 and fair fees for non-covered services, remembering Idaho oral surgeon Dr. Mark Baker, and Weave's $650 million acquisition. Laura Nelson has spent more than 20 years in dentistry. She is VP of AI Training and Development at Mango Voice, founder of Front Office Rocks, a national speaker, and author of Brush Up on AI: Step Away from the Drill and Hiring Without Hesitation. 🙌 Special shout out to Mango Voice, our educational partner, for making this episode possible! Learn more about Mango: https://mangovoice.com/ Chapters: 0:00 Intro 1:47 A slow September and a remilled crown 4:16 Glidewell's Scan Forward Symposium: 5 takeaways 9:59 Running a business at scale 12:02 News 12:08 News: HR 1521 and non-covered services 16:37 News: remembering Dr. Mark Baker 17:46 News: Weave's $650M acquisition 19:00 Meet Laura Nelson 20:50 When AI gets teeth wrong 24:04 Train your team and keep a human in the loop 25:08 What Mango is doing with AI 27:03 Practicing phone calls with AI patients 29:01 De-escalation training 31:37 Can AI handle patient texting? 32:55 Why AI needs written systems 34:37 Why your AI tools need to connect 36:13 Setting a standard for patient experience 37:34 The race to own dental AI 41:03 Is Mango more than a phone company? 43:15 AI call transcripts and HIPAA 45:31 Your team is already using AI 46:10 The call transcript that stopped a lawsuit 47:18 Talk to your team about AI first 50:16 Soft skills matter more with AI 51:22 AI is only as good as your SOPs 52:51 Writing SOPs with AI 54:07 Why Laura joined Mango 57:01 Closing 58:17 Winning over an AI skeptic 1:01:18 Two kinds of future dental practices 1:04:19 Wrap-up 🎧 Listen to the podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dentists-in-the-know/id1543254763 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2Elfj6LX0hCUyp0AgdTsij 📺 Make sure you subscribe to catch new episodes live every Wednesday at 8pm ET! https://www.youtube.com/@dentistsintheknow 🌐 Check out our brand new website: https://dentistsintheknow.com 🌟 Learn more about Mango: https://fanflet.com/dinks/mangodinks 💥 DINKY DEAL: Get 50% off Laura’s AI products with code DINKS. https://lauranelsonspeaks.com/