Patients keep calling the regular office number they already know. That number does not change. Call forwarding sends selected calls from the office phone system to the location's MCD AI number, where AI Answering can answer them.
Who sets up forwarding?
Call forwarding is controlled by your office's phone system or phone company. Missed Calls Dental cannot change those settings for you.
The names, menus, and available options vary by phone system. There is no single set of steps that works for every office. The simplest and most reliable approach is usually to ask the phone company's support team to configure it.
Which calls should be forwarded?
Ask for these three conditions:
- Busy: Forward when the line, call group, or queue is busy.
- No answer: Forward when nobody answers after about three rings, or the closest delay the phone system supports.
- After hours: Forward outside the office's exact business hours.
During business hours, the office phone should ring first. Do not enable Forward all, Always, or Unconditional forwarding for normal setup. Forwarding should occur before voicemail or another automated answer, and the phone system should preserve the original caller's phone number on forwarded calls.
What is available after you create an account?
After you create an account and receive an MCD AI number, sign in and open Phone setup for the location. Before forwarding is confirmed, it provides:
- the exact office and MCD AI numbers to use;
- a personalized request you can copy and send to your phone company;
- a forwarding test that confirms the unanswered-call path reaches the correct MCD AI number.
The personalized request uses saved and approved Business hours from AI Knowledge. If approved hours are unavailable, the request shows (Please add your office hours.) instead of guessing.
If the test call does not reach the MCD AI number, Phone setup keeps a Call forwarding could not be confirmed result. It explains the two likely causes: someone answered the office phone before forwarding occurred, or forwarding was not detected because it is not set up or points to a different number. The result remains available after a refresh or later sign-in, and clears after a successful test, an office-phone change, or a forwarding-setup disconnect.
After the test succeeds, Phone setup removes the setup request and detailed forwarding instructions. It keeps the Forwarding set up confirmation, both phone numbers, and the short call flow from patient call to AI Answering.
The automated test confirms the no-answer path. Your phone company should separately confirm busy and after-hours routing.