Comparison
HelpDental Assist vs Dentally Clinical AI Notes
Prices and features checked 17 August 2026
Dentally is a UK practice management system, and Clinical AI Notes is a feature inside it rather than a separate product. If you already run Dentally, it is the option with no extra login and no copying and pasting.
It works differently from an ambient scribe. Dentally state plainly that it is not an ambient listening tool: you start it by hand, usually after the appointment, and each dictation runs up to five minutes, though you can chain several into one note.
So the comparison is not really scribe against scribe. It is a summariser of what you dictate, built into the software you already pay for, against a tool that listens to the appointment itself.
01The comparison
Assist and Dentally Clinical AI Notes side by side.
Cost
Assist:£99 per dentist per month. £79 a month if you pay for the year.
Dentally Clinical AI Notes:Included in the Dentally subscription, with a monthly allowance per surgery. Beyond the allowance their FAQ states 20p per additional note.
Dentally list their own plans at £125 to £575 a month for Starter, £220 to £720 for Essentials and £320 to £945 for Pro, excluding VAT, scaling from one to nine surgeries. The 20p figure is on their FAQ; the pricing page says only that overage is charged at a small per note rate.
Source: Dentally Clinical AI Notes's own pageNote allowance
Assist:No cap on the number of notes.
Dentally Clinical AI Notes:45 notes per surgery per month on Essentials, 90 on Pro. Starter gets a one off trial credit rather than a recurring allowance.
Source: Dentally Clinical AI Notes's own pageHow it captures the appointment
Assist:Ambient. It listens to the appointment and the words appear on screen as they are said.
Dentally Clinical AI Notes:Manually started from the clinical side panel, usually after the appointment. Their FAQ states it only starts listening when you activate it and is not an ambient listening tool.
Source: Dentally Clinical AI Notes's own pageSession limit
Assist:No time limit on a recording.
Dentally Clinical AI Notes:Up to five minutes per dictation, with several dictations allowed in the same note.
Source: Dentally Clinical AI Notes's own pageGoes into your practice software
Assist:Copy and paste into any system. There is no native integration.
Dentally Clinical AI Notes:It is inside Dentally, so nothing to paste. It requires a Dentally subscription and Level 2 practitioner access or above.
Source: Dentally Clinical AI Notes's own pageScores and diagnoses
Assist:Assist does not calculate scores or suggest diagnoses in production mode.
Dentally Clinical AI Notes:Their documentation states it cannot diagnose, assess risk or recommend treatment, and does not suggest treatment plans.
Source: Dentally Clinical AI Notes's own pageShows where each line came from
Assist:Shows whether text came from the appointment, a selected template or clinician-approved saved wording. The clinician reviews and edits the note before copying.
Dentally Clinical AI Notes:Not described on their public pages. Users are told to check AI notes for accuracy.
Source: Dentally Clinical AI Notes's own pageAudio recordings
Assist:Unsaved audio is removed after processing. Saved audio stays with the note until you delete it. We do not opt patient data into a provider's model-training programme.
Dentally Clinical AI Notes:Audio is processed and never stored, only the transcript is saved. Customer data is not used to train the AI.
Source: Dentally Clinical AI Notes's own pageWho builds it
Assist:Built in the UK by a practising dentist.
Dentally Clinical AI Notes:Dentally, a UK practice management system.
Source: Dentally Clinical AI Notes's own page| Assist | Dentally Clinical AI Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | £99 per dentist per month. £79 a month if you pay for the year. | Included in the Dentally subscription, with a monthly allowance per surgery. Beyond the allowance their FAQ states 20p per additional note. Dentally list their own plans at £125 to £575 a month for Starter, £220 to £720 for Essentials and £320 to £945 for Pro, excluding VAT, scaling from one to nine surgeries. The 20p figure is on their FAQ; the pricing page says only that overage is charged at a small per note rate. |
| Note allowance | No cap on the number of notes. | 45 notes per surgery per month on Essentials, 90 on Pro. Starter gets a one off trial credit rather than a recurring allowance. |
| How it captures the appointment | Ambient. It listens to the appointment and the words appear on screen as they are said. | Manually started from the clinical side panel, usually after the appointment. Their FAQ states it only starts listening when you activate it and is not an ambient listening tool. |
| Session limit | No time limit on a recording. | Up to five minutes per dictation, with several dictations allowed in the same note. |
| Goes into your practice software | Copy and paste into any system. There is no native integration. | It is inside Dentally, so nothing to paste. It requires a Dentally subscription and Level 2 practitioner access or above. |
| Scores and diagnoses | Assist does not calculate scores or suggest diagnoses in production mode. | Their documentation states it cannot diagnose, assess risk or recommend treatment, and does not suggest treatment plans. |
| Shows where each line came from | Shows whether text came from the appointment, a selected template or clinician-approved saved wording. The clinician reviews and edits the note before copying. | Not described on their public pages. Users are told to check AI notes for accuracy. |
| Audio recordings | Unsaved audio is removed after processing. Saved audio stays with the note until you delete it. We do not opt patient data into a provider's model-training programme. | Audio is processed and never stored, only the transcript is saved. Customer data is not used to train the AI. |
| Who builds it | Built in the UK by a practising dentist. | Dentally, a UK practice management system. |
02Which to pick
When Dentally Clinical AI Notes is the better pick
- You already run Dentally. It is in the software, there is no second login, no copying and pasting, and no extra subscription.
- You prefer dictating a summary after the appointment to having the room recorded. Some patients and some clinicians feel differently about a live microphone, and this sidesteps it entirely.
- Your note volume fits inside 45 or 90 a month per surgery, in which case the marginal cost is nothing.
- You want one supplier and one contract covering the practice software and the notes together.
When Assist is the better pick
- You want the appointment itself captured rather than reconstructed from a dictation afterwards.
- You run more notes than the monthly allowance, or you want the number not to matter.
- You do not use Dentally, in which case their feature is not available to you at all.
- You want the note to show its source before copying.
28 days free. No card required.
03Questions
Questions about Dentally Clinical AI Notes.
Is Dentally Clinical AI Notes an ambient scribe?
No, and Dentally say so themselves. Their FAQ states it only starts listening when you manually activate it, usually after the appointment, and that it is not an ambient listening tool. Assist listens during the appointment.
Is there a time limit?
Dentally state up to five minutes per dictation, and you can chain several dictations into one note. Assist has no time limit on a recording.
How many notes do I get?
45 per surgery per month on Essentials and 90 on Pro, with 20p per note beyond that according to their FAQ. Assist does not cap the number of notes.
Do I need Dentally to use it?
Yes. It lives inside the Dentally clinical panel and needs Level 2 practitioner access or above. Assist works alongside any practice software because you paste the note in.