Open Dental connector
Your Silux Chat bot verifies customers against Open Dental, then answers questions about their account balance and appointments and bookings from your live data.
Good to know: Bot shows appointment times/status only, never clinical notes. Patients are looked up by mobile number (the API has no email search). Remote API access requires the Open Dental API service subscription.
What your bot can do with Open Dental
Account balance
Reads the balance Open Dental holds for the verified customer and adds it to their account summary.
Customers ask: “How much do I owe?” · “Is my account up to date?”
Appointments and bookings
Reads upcoming and recent appointments or reservations from Open Dental — date and time, service and status.
Customers ask: “When is my next appointment?” · “Is my booking confirmed?”
Recognise and verify customers
Finds the customer in Open Dental by the email address or mobile number they give, checks their name and one more detail, then sends a one-time code to the contact details Open Dental holds. Nothing personal is shared until the code is entered.
Customers ask: “I want to check my account — it’s Jane Smith, jane@example.com”
Set it up
Most businesses finish in under ten minutes. You need to be able to sign in to Open Dental as an administrator to create the key.
Step 1 — in Open Dental
- 1In Open Dental
- 2Setup
- 3Advanced Setup
- 4API, enable the integration and copy the customer key.
Least access: grant only the read permissions named above (customers, orders, invoices, bookings or tickets — whichever this connector uses). Never use an owner or full-admin key where Open Dental lets you create a restricted one.
Step 2 — in Silux Chat
- 1Open Dashboard → Integrations → Connectors and search for “Open Dental”.
- 2Fill in:
Field Example Stored Developer key •••••••• Encrypted Customer key (from Open Dental → Setup → API) •••••••• Encrypted - 3Press Connect & test. The platform makes a real, read-only call to Open Dental with a made-up customer and shows a tick or a cross for each capability, with Open Dental’s exact error if something is refused.
- 4If this is your first way of verifying customers it is switched on automatically; otherwise press Use to verify customers. The platform then runs its chained test (verify → code → account → orders → invoices) with the built-in test customer — no real person is contacted.
You create an API key in Open Dental and paste it into your dashboard. It is sent in a request header on every call, over HTTPS only.
How customer verification works
- STEP 1
Customer asks
They ask about their own account. The bot asks for their full name and their email or mobile, plus one more detail such as their postcode.
- STEP 2
Found in Open Dental
The customer is looked up in Open Dental by email, then mobile. The surname must match exactly and the first name must match or start with the same letter, plus one more detail.
- STEP 3
Code sent
A 6-digit code goes to the mobile Open Dental holds (by text, when your plan has SMS) or otherwise to the email it holds. The chat never chooses where it goes.
- STEP 4
Verified
The customer types the code. It is valid for 10 minutes and five wrong attempts cancel it. The verified session lasts 30 minutes.
If the details don’t match, the customer is told only that they couldn’t be matched — never which detail was wrong. If Open Dental can’t be reached, the bot says it can’t check accounts right now rather than “no account found”. The bot is blocked in code from reading orders, invoices or bookings until verification succeeds. Full details: Customer identity verification & OTP.
What the bot can and cannot see
Can see (after verification)
- Record ID
- Name
- Email address
- Phone / mobile
- Postcode
- Start time
- Service
- Status
- Confirmed
- Balance
Only these standard fields are mapped from Open Dental’s responses. Everything else in the response is discarded before the bot sees it.
Never sees
- clinical notes, charts or treatment plans
- X-rays and medical history
- passwords, security answers or login details
- records belonging to anyone other than the verified customer
- anything outside the fields listed alongside
Security
Keys encrypted at rest
Credentials are stored encrypted, shown only masked after saving, and destroyed — not just hidden — when you disconnect.
Read-only look-ups
Every capability is a look-up. The connector cannot create, change or delete anything in Open Dental.
HTTPS only
Calls go to the vendor’s HTTPS address, redirects are not followed, and private network addresses are refused.
Injection-safe
Values a customer types are cleaned before they are placed in Open Dental’s search, and URL-encoded in addresses.
Other customers filtered out
A row that names a different customer’s email is dropped, whatever the vendor’s search returned.
Checked daily
Connections are re-tested every day, and the owner is emailed if a working connection starts failing.
More: Security & data protection.
Technical details
For developers and IT teams: the Open Dental endpoints this connector reads, relative to https://api.opendental.com/api/v1. Values in braces come from the settings you enter.
| Capability | Request | Standard fields returned |
|---|---|---|
| Recognise and verify customers | GET/patients/Simple | id, name, email, phone, postcode |
| Appointments and bookings | GET/appointments | id, start, service, status, confirmed |
| Account balance | GET/patients/{customer_id} | balance |
Test level: Documented-API tested. Each capability is run automatically against Open Dental’s documented example responses and must produce the standard fields; your own connection is then tested with a real call when you connect. The bot receives these through the standard Account Connect endpoints, exactly as if you had built them yourself.
Troubleshooting
| What you see | Likely cause and fix |
|---|---|
| “the vendor refused the credentials (401)” or (403) | The key was revoked, has expired or was copied incompletely, or it lacks a read permission this connector needs. Create a fresh read-only key in Open Dental and reconnect. |
| Customers are “not matched” although they exist | Customers are looked up by email or mobile, not postcode. Check the customer’s email or mobile is saved on their Open Dental record, and that the surname matches. |
| A capability shows a cross but others work | That permission wasn’t granted in Open Dental, or your Open Dental plan doesn’t include that part of the API. Grant it and press Test. |
| “the vendor kept rate-limiting the request” | Open Dental returned “too many requests” three times in a row. The platform already waits and retries automatically (up to 10 seconds, as Open Dental asks); if it persists, ask Open Dental about your API quota. |
| Results are empty for a verified customer | The records exist under a different email or customer record in Open Dental, or none are recent. Check the customer’s record in Open Dental directly. |
Full error reference: Troubleshooting & error reference.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Open Dental connection read-only?
Yes. Every request Silux Chat makes to Open Dental is a look-up; none creates, changes or deletes anything in Open Dental. Give the key or sign-in read-only permissions wherever Open Dental offers them.
Do I need a developer to connect Open Dental?
No. You paste the details listed in the set-up steps in Dashboard → Integrations → Connectors and press “Connect & test”. The platform makes a real call to Open Dental straight away and shows exactly which features work.
How does the bot know it is really my customer?
It finds the customer in Open Dental by the email or mobile they give, checks their name and one more detail, then sends a one-time code to the mobile or email held in Open Dental — never to one typed in the chat. The code lasts 10 minutes, five wrong attempts cancel it, and a verified session lasts 30 minutes.
What happens if my Open Dental key is revoked or expires?
The bot tells customers it can’t check their account right now — it never pretends there are “no orders”. Connections are re-tested daily and the account owner is emailed when a working connection starts failing. Reconnect it in Dashboard → Integrations → Connectors.
How has the Open Dental connector been tested?
It is Documented-API tested: every capability is run automatically against Open Dental’s documented example responses and must produce the standard fields. When you connect, it is tested again with a real call to your own Open Dental account before your bot uses it.
Other dental connectors
Need help with your integration?
Our integration team can review your endpoints, help you choose the right connector and check a test run with you. Tell us which system you use and what you would like the bot to answer.