Delivering efficiency and profitability for dental practices

The role of messaging and automation in the modern dental office

Dental Intelligence focuses on messaging because “it’s what our customers expect and what the market needs” said Dan Larsen, VP of Product. In an industry with high staff turnover, automated messaging programs help providers “focus on the patients who are in the practice at that particular time, so they can give them the best experience in the practice and allow automation to run in the background.”

“We recognize that each practice, each customer of ours is a little bit different. They have their own unique voice. And with Bandwidth, they’re able to deliver those messages that match their brand and their style.” – Dan Larsen

Measuring the impact of better communications

When it comes to showing the impact of its automated messaging solutions, Dental Intelligence focuses on a profitability formula built on messaging traffic metrics. “Understanding metrics that drive messaging success is incredibly important to us. And Bandwidth has been super helpful in this process. One of the things that we talk to our customers about is the high delivery rates that we have with our service and partnership with Bandwidth.”

One provider, Dr. Claire with Lake State Dental, increased her average collections from $60,000 to $100,000 in the first 30 days of using Dental Intelligence with messaging provided by Bandwidth.

“Each patient appointment and message is critically important to a dental practice. So these high delivery rates and consistency are super, super important.” – Dan Larsen

Multichannel communications to meet market needs

Strong demand for omnichannel communication is trending with dental providers. According to Larsen, “They want to be where their patients and their customers are in order to serve them. So having multiple channels that we can deliver and receive messages on really makes a huge difference in the success of our practices.” 

When it comes to SMS, Dental Intelligence consulted Bandwidth’s team about which number type would be best for their use cases. Today, they focus on Toll-free SMS, which many companies choose for reliable high throughput texting. But getting through the toll-free number verification process can be quite painful, with a lot of manual legwork. Larsen noted that Bandwidth’s Toll-free Verification API has been key in reducing manual work on their end, paving a smoother path to sending. 

Partnership to scale in a complex space

When Dental Intelligence first partnered with Bandwidth in 2020, they sent lower amounts of messages each month with a modest customer base. The company has scaled quickly and Larsen shared that as of 2024,  “we’re sending millions of messages every single month to our patients through our partnership with Bandwidth.”

The messaging space has seen huge changes in the last few years, including new requirements for toll-free verification. “Bandwidth has played a critical role for us in ensuring that we meet industry standards. There are a lot of regulatory requirements, and it’s a lot for us to take on ourselves. So having a partner like Bandwidth, that can help us navigate all of these requirements and regulatory items has been incredibly important” says Larsen.

He also shared that each time Dental Intelligence explores adding a new channel, considering “what we can deliver, how we should be doing it—Bandwidth has been with us every step of the way.” And Larsen also noted “we recognize that other platforms in our industry that have different partners haven’t had the same level of success.”

“Every step of the way we have not had to worry about scalability or reliability. Bandwidth has been a partner with us from the very beginning to our growth that has been exponential.” – Dan Larsen

RESOURCES

Learn how to make your healthcare texting more effective

Research Report

2024 Patient communication preferences report

Quick Guide

SMS Best Practices in Healthcare

Quick Guide

SMS deliverability checklist