Your Open Dental system tracks every clinical detail — procedures, insurance, treatment plans, patient history. But it cannot tell potential patients about your morning availability or answer the phone at 8 PM when someone has a dental emergency. The PMS manages existing patients. AI marketing generates new ones. When these two systems connect, the growth loop closes.
TL;DR
Open Dental and Curve Dental manage your clinical records and scheduling. Optimal.dev fills your chair schedule with AI-qualified patients. New patient records, appointments, and intake data sync directly into your PMS — whether on-premise (Open Dental) or cloud (Curve Dental). The AI reads provider availability from the PMS and books directly into open slots.
On-Premise and Cloud Integration
Open Dental's open-source architecture provides the most flexible API in dental software. Unlike proprietary PMS platforms that restrict third-party access, Open Dental's documented API allows deep bidirectional integration — Optimal.dev reads provider schedules and writes new patient records back. Curve Dental, as a cloud-native platform, provides real-time API access without the VPN tunneling that on-premise systems sometimes require.
Key Insight: Open Dental's open-source API is the most flexible in dental software. This enables deeper integration than proprietary PMS systems like Dentrix or Eaglesoft. Optimal.dev leverages this openness to create true bidirectional sync — reading availability for AI booking and writing new patient records back with complete context from the AI conversation.
The integration flow is straightforward: a prospective patient calls your number, Optimal.dev's AI answers, discusses the dental concern, captures insurance details, queries Open Dental or Curve Dental for available appointment slots, and books directly into the schedule. The patient record created in the PMS includes all data captured during the AI conversation — contact information, insurance carrier, dental concern description, and the full conversation transcript for the clinician to review before the appointment.
| Function | Open Dental/Curve | Optimal.dev |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical charting | ✅ Full | ❌ |
| Insurance verification | ✅ Integrated | Captures insurance data |
| Scheduling | ✅ Core feature | AI books into schedule |
| Billing | ✅ Claims processing | ❌ |
| New patient marketing | ❌ Not included | ✅ AI-powered |
| Voice AI | ❌ Not included | ✅ 24/7 |
| Reviews | ❌ Not included | ✅ $0.004/msg |
| Website & SEO | ❌ Not included | ✅ 9-module AI |
The Open-Source Advantage
Open Dental practices benefit from a unique integration advantage. The open-source codebase means no vendor lock-in on the PMS side, and the API documentation is community-maintained and continuously updated. This allows Optimal.dev to build deeper integrations faster than with proprietary PMS platforms that gate API access behind partnership agreements and certification processes.
For Curve Dental practices, the cloud-native architecture eliminates a common integration headache: server connectivity. On-premise PMS systems like Dentrix sometimes require VPN tunnels or local API servers for third-party integrations. Curve Dental's cloud API is always accessible, enabling real-time sync regardless of office network configuration.
The practical benefit for both platforms: when AI books a 7 PM patient for a 9 AM appointment, the record appears in the PMS immediately. The front desk team arrives to a prepared schedule — new patient details already loaded, insurance information captured, and the conversation transcript providing context about the patient's concerns. No sticky notes on monitors, no checking voicemail, no calling back patients who may have already booked elsewhere.
For DSO (Dental Service Organization) practices running Open Dental across multiple locations, the integration supports location-aware routing. The AI identifies which location the caller is nearest to, checks provider availability at that location, and books accordingly — all within the same conversation.
See also: Dentrix integration and DemandForce alternative.
