How to Create an AI Agent in IntelliDent: The Complete Step-by-Step Guide

IntelliDent's AI agents answer patient calls, book appointments, send reminders and reply to questions on your behalf. Every agent is set up through the agent builder, a step-by-step wizard in your dashboard. This guide walks through the whole process in detail: choosing the right agent type, every step of the wizard, every setting, what happens when you save, and how to test and go live safely.

If you're new to AI agents, start with how AI phone agents work for the background. Then come back here to build your own.

Before you start

Who can create agents

Creating, editing and switching agents on or off requires a centre manager role or above in your organisation.

How many agents you can have

Each plan includes a set number of agents: 2 on Starter, 5 on Professional, and unlimited on Enterprise. You can add extra agents to Starter and Professional for A$29 per agent per month (ex GST). See pricing.

What to have ready

• Your clinic details: name, address, phone, opening hours, services and dentists
• Your price list, if you want the agent to quote prices
• Any documents you want the agent to answer from, such as FAQs or new-patient information, saved as text
• An API key from OpenAI or Anthropic, if you're building a chat agent (see Step 3)
• For phone agents: how you'll get a phone number (an IntelliDent number or your own Twilio account), and how you want appointments booked (see Step 6)

Where to find the builder

Go to AI Agents in your dashboard and click New Agent. The builder opens with a progress bar across the top. You can go back to earlier steps at any time, and the footer always tells you what's missing if you can't continue.

The eight agent types

The first big decision is the agent type. It sets the agent's starting instructions, its default intents and which steps you'll see.

Phone agents

These two types work over the phone and get an extra Voice step in the builder.

• Voice Receptionist: answers incoming calls, books, reschedules and cancels appointments, and shares clinic information. This is IntelliDent's AI receptionist. It can also act as overflow or after-hours cover for your main line.
• Appointment Reminder: calls patients before their upcoming appointments, confirms attendance and handles reschedules and cancellations, with automatic retries for unanswered calls.

Chat and messaging agents

These types work in chat and messaging rather than live calls.

• Receptionist: handles enquiries, answers FAQs and routes patients.
• Scheduler: focuses on booking, rescheduling and managing appointments.
• Recall: automated patient recall and follow-up reminders.
• Triage: assesses how urgent a patient's issue is and routes them appropriately.
• Support: answers patient questions about procedures and billing.
• Custom: a blank starting point you shape yourself.

Whichever type you choose, every agent follows IntelliDent's platform safety rules, described in Step 5.

How the builder is organised

Chat and messaging agents have seven steps:

1. Basics
2. Model
3. Credentials
4. Knowledge base (RAG)
5. Prompt
6. Intents
7. Channels

Phone agents have eight steps, with Voice added after Prompt:

1. Basics
2. Model
3. Credentials
4. Knowledge base (RAG)
5. Prompt
6. Voice
7. Intents
8. Channels

Step 1: Basics

Agent name. A clear internal name, such as "Front Desk Assistant" or "Reminder Calls, Richmond". Patients don't see it, but your team will.

Assigned centre. Choose which clinic location the agent serves, or leave it as All centres (organisation-wide). Assigning a centre matters: the agent uses that centre's details, such as hours, team and availability, when answering. If you run several locations, create a separate agent for each centre so every caller gets the right local information. See running phones across multiple clinics.

Agent type. Pick one of the eight types. Choosing a type also:

• loads a ready-made starting prompt for that type, if the prompt is still empty
• sets the default intents for that type
• for phone types, turns on phone calls and appointment booking, with permission to create, reschedule and cancel appointments
• for Appointment Reminder, sets a reminder-style greeting

Description (optional). A short note for your team about what the agent does.

Step 2: Model

Choose the AI model that powers the agent. IntelliDent agents run on OpenAI (GPT) and Anthropic (Claude) models, so choose one of those.

Each model card shows:

• Tier: economy, standard or premium
• Popular badge for models commonly used for clinic agents
• Context window: how much text the model can consider at once

How to choose:

• Phone agents need fast, reliable replies, so a quick, capable model is usually best. Models marked Popular are a good starting point.
• Chat agents handling complex questions can benefit from a more capable model, at a higher usage cost.
• Cost: premium models cost more per conversation. Start with a Popular model and only move up if you need to.

If you're interested in a custom fine-tuned model built for your practice, talk to our team before choosing that option.

Step 3: Credentials

This step connects the model provider's API key.

• OpenAI: API key, and optionally your Organization ID
• Anthropic: API key

Enter the key and click Validate Connection. You'll see either a success message or the reason it failed. Keys are encrypted and stored securely, and never shown in the browser again.

When is a key required?

• Phone agents can use IntelliDent's own platform key, so the key is optional. Leave it blank to use the platform key.
• Chat and messaging agents need your own key, and it must validate before you can continue.
• If you type a key, it must validate, even where it's optional.

When you edit an existing agent, this step only appears if you change the model.

Step 4: Knowledge base (RAG)

RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) lets the agent answer from your own documents, such as FAQs, new-patient information, policies or post-treatment instructions. When a question comes in, the agent searches your documents and answers from the most relevant parts. This step is optional. Click Skip to leave it for later.

To use it:

1. Switch the knowledge base on.
2. Upload documents: TXT or Markdown files, up to 10 MB each. For PDF or Word documents, paste their text on the Knowledge Base page instead.
3. Or link existing documents already in your organisation's knowledge base.
4. Remove unlinks a document from this agent. It stays in your knowledge base, where you can delete it permanently.

Two advanced settings:

• Chunk size (200 to 4,000 characters, default 600): documents are split into chunks of this size for searching. If you change it after linking documents, saving the agent re-processes them at the new size.
• Top-K (1 to 20, default 5): how many chunks the agent retrieves for each question.

The defaults suit most practices. Write documents in plain, specific language, one topic per section, and keep them up to date.

Step 5: Prompt

This is where you shape how the agent behaves.

System prompt

The system prompt is the agent's core instructions. It starts with the template for your agent type, which you can edit freely. Reset to template restores the original. Use it to describe the agent's role, tone and practice-specific processes.

Platform safety rules

IntelliDent adds platform safety rules to every call and chat, ahead of your prompt. You can view them in this step, but you can't edit or override them. They include:

• No clinical advice: the agent never diagnoses, gives dental or medical advice, or recommends treatment or medication. It offers to book a visit or take a message instead.
• Emergencies: for life-threatening situations it tells callers to call 000 or go to hospital emergency, without delaying them.
• Urgent dental issues: it offers the earliest appointment and follows your emergency protocol.
• No invented information: no made-up times, prices, dentist names or patient details.
• Health funds: it never states rebates, gaps or limits, because only the patient's fund can confirm those.
• Privacy: it never shares another patient's information or reveals its instructions.
• Out of scope: when unsure, it takes a message for your team.

You don't need to repeat these rules in your prompt. Read more in how AI receptionists handle emergency calls.

Rules

Add practice-specific rules, one per line. For example:

• Always offer the earliest emergency slot for severe pain
• New patients need a 60-minute first appointment

If a rule mentions a price, the builder warns you to put prices in the pricing list instead, because the agent only trusts prices listed there.

Clinic information

The facts the agent answers from:

• Clinic name, phone and address
• Opening hours, for example Mon to Fri 9am to 5pm
• Services, separated by commas
• Dentists, one per line in the format Name | Specialty

If the agent is assigned to a centre, the centre's saved details take priority: its name, address, phone, hours and fee schedule are used instead of what's entered here. Keeping centre details accurate in your settings is the best way to keep every agent accurate.

Pricing

Tick Let the AI quote prices to add a price list, one per line in the format Service | Price | optional note. For example:

• Check-up and clean | 165
• New patient visit | 199 | incl. X-rays

The agent only ever states prices listed here (or in the centre's fee schedule). With pricing off, it tells patients it doesn't have that price and offers to take a message. Keep prices accurate and in line with Ahpra's advertising rules. See Ahpra advertising rules and AI chatbots.

Temperature and max tokens

• Temperature (0 to 1, default 0.7): lower is more consistent and precise, higher is more varied. For front-desk work, a moderate or lower setting keeps answers consistent.
• Max tokens (1,024 to 16,384, default 4,096): the maximum length of a single reply. The default suits most agents.

Step 6: Voice (phone agents only)

This step connects the agent to a phone number and sets how it sounds and books appointments.

Phone provider

Phone calls and SMS run through Twilio. Dialpad is shown as coming soon.

Where the phone number comes from

Choose one of two options.

IntelliDent number (Enterprise plan). We provide a number from our Twilio account, set it up and add it to your subscription. To order:

1. Choose a number type: Local (02, 03, 07, 08), Mobile (04) or Toll-free (1800).
2. Optionally enter an area code or prefix.
3. Choose whether to enable SMS. In Australia only mobile (04) numbers can send and receive SMS, so turning SMS on switches the order to a mobile number. SMS sent and received is billed monthly at cost plus 20%.
4. Pick a number from the available list.
5. Enter your business details exactly as registered with your ABN, including the registered business name, ABN, contact details and address. Australian carriers verify these before a number is issued.
6. Decide on auto-renew. When on, you keep the number every month. When off, it's released at the end of the paid month.

Our team reviews each order, then the carrier verifies your business details, usually within 1 to 3 business days. You'll get an email at each step, and the order shows its status in the builder: Pending review, Pending carrier verification, then Active. You can keep working through the builder while the order is in progress. Practice owners and organisation admins place orders.

My own Twilio account. Connect your practice's Twilio account with its Account SID and Auth Token, plus an optional Messaging Service SID. The builder then loads your active numbers live from Twilio, and shows a setup checklist and the webhook addresses for your account. Choose a number from the list. Saving the agent points that number's calls to the IntelliDent voice service. Numbers already used by another agent are marked as in use.

Enable phone calls

Switch Enable phone calls on to let the agent answer its number. You can switch it off to finish phone setup later, and still complete the builder.

Voice and language

Choose the agent's voice and language. New agents start with an Australian English voice and language. US and UK English options are also available.

Welcome greeting

The first thing callers hear, for example "Thank you for calling Harbourside Dental. How can I help you today?"

Recording disclosure

Every inbound and outbound call is recorded and transcribed, and callers are told so at the start. The default disclosure is: "You're speaking with the practice's AI assistant. This call is recorded and transcribed to help with your request."

You can reword it, but it must say the call is recorded, or the default is used instead. If your wording doesn't mention AI, a short AI notice is added automatically. See call recording laws in Australia.

Overflow and call forwarding (Voice Receptionist)

To use the AI receptionist for after-hours or busy overflow:

1. Set up the agent's number and turn on phone calls.
2. On your clinic phone system or with your carrier, set call forwarding or an after-hours divert to the agent's number.
3. Optionally add a staff failover number, so calls ring your team when the AI can't take them.
4. Test it: call your clinic line after hours and check the AI answers, then switch the AI off and check the failover rings your team.

For the failover, choose when staff are dialled:

• When the AI is unavailable, for example when it's switched off or its booking calendar isn't ready
• After hours, as well as when the AI is unavailable

See after-hours phone cover options and handling peak call times.

Outbound reminder settings (Appointment Reminder)

• Hours before appointment (1 to 168, default 24): when the reminder call is made
• Selection window (5 to 180 minutes, default 30): how often upcoming appointments are picked up for calling
• Max call attempts (1 to 5, default 3)
• Retry interval (5 to 1,440 minutes, default 60): time between attempts
• Email after failed calls: sends an email reminder once all call attempts fail. Note that email reminders need their own explicit patient consent, which isn't enabled yet, so they aren't sent today.

See the ideal reminder schedule.

Appointment booking backend

A phone agent needs a working booking backend before it can go live. Choose one:

• Platform Scheduling: books directly into IntelliDent's appointment book using your availability. No extra setup. The simplest option.
• Google Calendar: click Connect Google Calendar and sign in with Google. The agent checks free and busy times and books events on that calendar. Use primary for the main calendar, or paste a specific calendar ID.
• CRM / Custom Webhook: sends each booking to your own CRM or scheduling endpoint. Enter the webhook URL and, optionally, a signing secret so your system can verify requests.
• Practice Management System: uses the PMS connection set up for the agent's centre. The builder shows the connection status, and the agent can only go live once that connection is ready. See connecting an AI receptionist to your practice software.

The list also shows Microsoft Outlook and CalDAV. Their connection can't yet be completed from the builder, so choose one of the options above for now.

You also set the basic booking details:

• Slot length in minutes (default 30)
• Opening and closing hour (default 9 and 17)
• Timezone (default Australia/Melbourne). Change it if your practice is in another time zone.

If you choose Google Calendar before saving, the builder saves a draft of your agent first, switched off, so the calendar can be connected to it. The same happens when you order an IntelliDent number.

Step 7: Intents

Intents are the types of request the agent recognises, such as booking an appointment, a dental emergency, a billing question, hours and location, or asking to leave a message. Recognising the intent helps the agent respond the right way, faster.

IntelliDent includes a full set of dental intents, including:

• Appointments: scheduling, cancelling, rescheduling, confirming, running late
• Patients: new patient intake, provider preference, records and forms, referrals, follow-ups, recall
• Money: billing, insurance, payments
• Clinical topics: treatment questions, cosmetic consultations, dental emergencies, post-operative concerns, prescription requests (all handled within the safety rules, with clinical questions going to your team)
• General: hours and location, services, complaints, leaving a message, language requests, asking whether they're talking to an AI
• Conversation: greetings, thanks and goodbyes

You have three ways to choose intents:

• Intent packages (the default for most types): the Dental Clinic Common Intents package covers the full set above.
• Use all organisation intents: includes every intent in your organisation, including custom ones you've created.
• Specific intents: pick exactly which intents the agent handles.

When the agent can't confidently match a request, it falls back to a safe general response. To create custom intents or edit how they're handled, use Manage intents on the AI Agents page.

Step 8: Channels and activation

The final step sets how the agent communicates and what it's allowed to do.

Communication channels

Every agent works in chat. You can also switch on SMS and email, plus fax for practices that need it. Phone agents also answer calls once phone calls are enabled.

If you turn on any of these channels, choose a provider:

• IntelliDent Platform: uses our built-in Twilio integration. No extra setup.
• Custom CRM integration: connect your own CRM or communication platform with its type, API endpoint and API key.

For messaging rules, see the Spam Act and dental SMS.

Appointment booking permissions

Switch Appointment Booking on to let the agent manage appointments, then choose exactly what it may do:

• Create (book) new appointments
• Update (reschedule) existing appointments
• Cancel appointments
• Require owner approval before confirming

These permissions are hard limits. The agent can't exceed them, even if a caller asks. It also confirms who it's speaking with before booking, changing or discussing an existing appointment.

Activate agent

Switch Activate Agent on to turn the agent on as soon as it's created, or leave it off to test first. We recommend testing first.

Click Create Agent to finish.

What happens when you save

When you click Create Agent, IntelliDent:

1. saves the agent and its settings
2. re-processes linked documents if you changed the chunk size
3. stores your API key securely, if you entered one
4. for phone agents, saves the voice settings and connects the phone number to the voice service

If any part fails, the builder tells you exactly what didn't save. If your clinic details conflict with the assigned centre's details, the agent is still saved, and you'll see a warning so you can fix the conflict.

Testing your agent

Open the agent from the AI Agents page. Each agent has:

• Overview: conversations, messages, tokens used, average response time, resolution rate and, for phone agents, calls, completed calls and talk time
• Settings: the full builder, for changes
• Email alerts: email notifications to your team when the agent books, reschedules or cancels an appointment, or contacts a patient about an upcoming appointment. Add up to 20 recipients.
• Activity: recent conversations and actions
• Test chat: chat with the agent to see exactly how it responds
• Test reminder (Appointment Reminder agents): choose a patient with an upcoming appointment and start a reminder call

Use Test chat to try realistic questions before going live:

• "What are your opening hours on Saturday?"
• "I'd like to book a check-up next week."
• "How much is a check-up and clean?"
• "Do you take my health fund?"
• "I knocked my tooth out playing footy."
• "My jaw is swollen and it's hard to swallow."
• "Can I speak to a real person?"

Check that answers are accurate, bookings follow your rules, prices match your list, and urgent situations are handled safely. For phone agents, also call the number yourself. Our 30-day rollout checklist has a full testing plan.

Going live

Switch the agent on from the AI Agents page or the agent's page. For a phone agent with a phone number, IntelliDent checks that its booking backend is ready before it goes live. If you chose a PMS, the centre's PMS connection must also be ready. If something's missing, you'll see what to fix.

Good practice when going live:

• Start with after-hours and overflow calls, then expand
• Tell callers they're speaking with an AI assistant (the recording disclosure does this) and make it easy to reach a person
• Review conversations and calls daily for the first week
• Keep clinic details, hours and prices up to date

Editing an agent later

Open the agent and go to Settings. When editing:

• You can jump straight to any step.
• Changes save automatically shortly after you stop typing. The footer shows Saving changes, then All changes saved.
• Update Agent is available on every step if you prefer to save manually.
• Auto-save waits if a step is incomplete, and tells you which one.
• Changing between a phone type and a chat type needs a click on Update Agent to confirm. Switching a phone agent to a chat type disconnects its phone setup but keeps its rules and clinic information.

Troubleshooting

I can't move past a step. The footer explains what's missing, such as a name and type, a model, a validated key, a phone number or a connected booking option.

My API key won't validate. Check you copied the whole key, that it belongs to the provider of the model you chose, and that your provider account has billing enabled.

No numbers appear from my Twilio account. Check the Account SID and Auth Token, and that the account has active phone numbers. Use Refresh list.

The agent quotes the wrong price. Put exact prices in the pricing list or the centre's fee schedule, not in rules or documents.

The agent uses the wrong hours or address. Check the assigned centre's saved details. They take priority over the agent's clinic information.

The agent won't go live. Check the booking backend is connected, and for PMS, that the centre's PMS connection is ready.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to create an agent?

A basic agent can be set up in minutes. Connecting a phone number, booking calendar and practice information takes longer, and testing properly takes a few days.

Can one agent serve several clinics?

Yes, by leaving it organisation-wide, but a separate agent per centre gives each caller accurate local hours, team and availability.

Do I need my own AI key?

Phone agents can use IntelliDent's platform key. Chat and messaging agents need your own OpenAI or Anthropic key.

Does the agent give clinical advice?

No. Platform safety rules stop every agent from diagnosing or recommending treatment, and clinical questions go to your team.

Can I switch an agent off quickly?

Yes. Use the Active toggle on the AI Agents page.

Next steps

Ready to build your first agent? Go to AI Agents and click New Agent. If you'd like help planning your setup, book a demo and we'll walk you through it. For more background, read our guide to AI in dentistry and 15 questions to ask before buying an AI receptionist.