What each channel is for
| Channel | Best use | Latency |
|---|---|---|
| SMS | Emergencies, on-call paging | Under 10 seconds |
| Bookings, callbacks, audit trail | 30–60 seconds |
Three event types
Salva fires notifications on three kinds of events:
- Emergency detected — fires immediately when Salva classifies a call as an emergency.
- Booking requested — fires when a booking lands in your inbox (instant or pending mode).
- Callback requested — fires after an after-hours callback collection.
Each event type can be independently enabled or disabled. When enabled, the notification goes to the phone number and email address you've set in the Notifications tab.
How to configure
Go to Settings → Notifications. You'll see three toggles — Emergency Alerts, New Booking Requests, and Callback Requests. Toggle on the ones you want, then add:
- Phone number — gets SMS when that event fires
- Email address — gets an email when that event fires
All three event types use the same contact details. Save once and it applies to everything you've enabled.
A practical setup
Most general practices end up with something like:
| Event | SMS | |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency | On-call dentist number | Practice owner |
| Booking requested | Off | Front desk |
| Callback requested | Off | Front desk |
SMS fires for every booking and callback request. After a week, alerts get ignored. Real emergencies blend into routine traffic — exactly what you don't want.
What's in each alert
Every emergency alert includes:
- Caller's phone number (when available)
- Timestamp
- Summary of what triggered the emergency classification
- Link to review the full conversation in your dashboard
Booking alerts include caller name, requested time, and service. Callback alerts include name, phone number, and reason.
The inbox is always the safety net
Regardless of notification settings, every flagged conversation appears in your dashboard inbox under Action Required. If an alert doesn't reach you for any reason, the inbox holds the record. Check it daily as a backstop.
For inbox triage, see Reading your inbox.
Published May 17, 2026