Use AI to draft clear dental emergency phone triage scripts that help your team stay calm and consistent.

When a worried parent calls with a dental emergency—a knocked-out tooth, a swollen cheek, or a child in pain—your front desk team needs to respond quickly, calmly, and consistently. But it's hard to remember every detail under pressure. AI can help you draft scripted triage questions and responses that guide your team through common emergency scenarios, so they know exactly what to ask, what advice to give, and when to schedule an urgent visit. This workflow walks you through creating a set of clear, compassionate phone scripts your team can reference any time an emergency call comes in. **Step 1:** List the three to five most common pediatric dental emergencies your office receives calls about (e.g., knocked-out permanent tooth, broken tooth, facial swelling, severe toothache). **Step 2:** For each scenario, paste a prompt into ChatGPT or Claude asking it to draft a triage script that includes key questions to ask the parent, immediate advice to give, and guidance on whether the child needs to be seen urgently or can wait. **Step 3:** Review the AI's draft and adjust the language to match your office's tone and protocols—add your after-hours contact info, preferred pain management advice, or specific instructions. **Step 4:** Copy the revised scripts into a simple document or laminated card your front desk can keep by the phone. **Step 5:** Share the scripts with your team in a quick huddle or email, and remind them these are guides to help them stay calm and thorough—not rigid rules. **Step 6:** Update the scripts every few months based on new questions or scenarios that come up. Remember: always review and customize AI drafts to fit your clinical protocols, and never enter real patient names or details into the AI.

February 21, 2026