Your Open Dental connection
Who can read this: Everyone. NixDent sets up and repairs the connection.
NixDent works from your Open Dental schedule and patient list. The AI receptionist offers real open times, finds the right patient, and writes new appointments back. All of that depends on the connection between NixDent and your Open Dental. NixDent sets it up and watches it for you. You don’t configure it in Settings.
How to tell it’s working
Section titled “How to tell it’s working”Look at the top bar of NixDent, near the bell icon.
- A small green dot. Hover over it: “Connected — syncing normally”. Everything is fine.
- An amber pill that says Practice offline. NixDent has not heard from your Open Dental recently. Click it to open a support request already filled in with “My practice shows as offline and isn’t syncing. Please help me reconnect.”
- Nothing at all. Your office has no connection set up yet. See the first item on the Getting started checklist: Open Dental connected, “No connection — nothing can be booked.”
The checklist shows Open Dental connected in yellow, “Connected but not reporting in — bookings may not reach Open Dental”, when the connection is there but has gone quiet. Treat Practice offline in the top bar as the early warning.
When it’s offline
Section titled “When it’s offline”- The AI still answers calls and takes messages.
- The schedule you see in NixDent may be out of date. It shows the last information NixDent received.
- New bookings may be delayed in reaching Open Dental. Check any appointment the AI books while you are offline.
Try these first, in this order:
- Check that Open Dental itself is open and working.
- Check your office internet is up. A restart after a Windows update is a common fix.
- Wait a few minutes and refresh NixDent.
- Still offline? Click Practice offline to send a support request, and tell NixDent what changed (power outage, new computer, new internet provider, a Windows update).
Checks to make after it reconnects
Section titled “Checks to make after it reconnects”- Open Schedule and check a few appointments match Open Dental.
- Ask the front desk to look at any appointment the AI booked during the outage and check it is in Open Dental.
Common problems
Section titled “Common problems”Rooms or providers are missing in Booking rules. The lists come from Open Dental. If a list is empty you may see “No operatories found. Check your data connection.” Check the connection first. See Booking rules.
The AI offers times Open Dental doesn’t have. It uses the last schedule NixDent received. Check the connection, then re-test.
A booking didn’t appear in Open Dental. See A booking didn’t appear in Open Dental.