Atikokan Family Dental Centre

Atikokan Family Dental Centre: Making a Small Practice More Efficient

When Eryn McArthur began manning the front desk at Atikokan Family Dental Centre in 2020, she had never worked in a dental office before. The Atikokan, Ontario, Canada, dental practice has one dentist, one hygienist, and just one front desk employee—Eryn—with all the responsibility for scheduling and patient communication on her shoulders. 

Luckily, Eryn had a powerful ally on her side: Lighthouse 360. Atikokan Family Dental Centre had implemented the patient communication software shortly before she was hired. 

Patient Communication Made Easy

When she first started working at Atikokan Family Dental Centre, Eryn spent almost her entire day calling patients. “I’d pretty much be on the phone from when the office opened to when it closed,” she recalls. As she learned how to use Lighthouse 360, she was able to automate most of that work. “Now I make maybe three, four or five phone calls a day.” Instead, Lighthouse 360 automatically sends out confirmation and reminder notices.  

Lighthouse 360 “makes communicating with patients communication super easy,” says Eryn. “As soon as I make the appointment, the patient gets a message sent directly to their cell phone within five minutes, so they have the information [at hand].” She also loves the Recall feature that automatically contacts patients who need to make an appointment, ensuring no one slips through the cracks. 

Help With Daily Tasks

Running a dental office solo is no easy task, but Eryn can rely on Lighthouse 360 to help her stay on top of daily duties. For example, when patients come in for appointments, the software reminds Eryn to get their cell phone number, email address and other contact information if it’s not already in the system.  

Eryn also loves how Lighthouse 360 seamlessly integrates with Dentrix. “That’s helped a lot with communication between me, the dentist and the hygienist,” she says. “It’s helped me navigate making appointments, changing files, adding or changing insurance and doing family files.”

Time-Saving Simplicity

No longer is Eryn spending all day with the phone to her ear. Now, her only phone calls are to older patients who don’t use text messaging. “Having everything simplified with Lighthouse makes my life so much easier!”