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Reliable and comprehensive dental management software is vitally important in today’s busy dental practices. With today’s technology, the right software can help dental groups practice more efficiently, from scheduling appointments to billing insurance to keeping electronic health records (EHR). But having the right software for your team (not too much and not too little), and making sure it is up-to-date and follows best practices, is incredibly important.
Below, dental experts weigh in on the best dental management software options, and why choosing the right program is imperative.
Please note that Berxi was not paid to promote any of these products. They are a compilation of the research a writer has received from dentists nationwide.
Dental practice management software manages multiple aspects of a dental practice, including charting, imaging, and billing. Selecting patient management software requires thoughtful consideration, explains Dr. Eugene Gamble, U.K. – based periodontist, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
Dental practice management software is important for streamlining the many moving parts in your office. Think about all the files and paperwork needed to provide patients with the highest – quality care and to meet business goals year after year. But instead of having dozens of different programs and processes to use for each of your practice’s needs, you can accomplish all these things with only a single application.
One program can provide:
Not only do dental practices benefit exponentially from dental practice management software, patients do too. Here are just some of the advantages that using a practice management program can have for your patients:
Your dental team will also enjoy the advantages that a whole – practice management software solution can provide them as well, including:
Many different dental practice management programs are available for general dentists, pediatric dentists, periodontists, orthodontists, and other dental professionals. Some of them are used for patient billing, insurance billing, and 3D imaging, while others offer solutions for your whole practice. Here we discuss the best all – inclusive and most popular dental management software options and what the dentists who use these programs have to say about them.
Price: $179/mo per office location
Why People Love It: Previously known as Free Dental, Open Dental is an open – source dental management software that is known for being both comprehensive and affordable for solo dentists and small practices. It’s the only open – source dental management software currently available on the market — which means users can access, share, and modify its source code, allowing practices to custom – code the application to meet their specific needs. The other dental management programs on the market are closed, which means the source code cannot be accessed by users.
“As an [Open Dental] user, I’ve found it valuable to be able to easily see current trends among my patients,” Kevin Dens, DDS, tells the American Dental Association. Dr. Dens serves as the chair for the ADA Council on Dental Benefit Programs.
Software Features: Open Dental offers many excellent benefits and features for users, such as:
Price: $139/mo
Why People Love It: Dentrix is a popular software choice for dental practices that are looking for a proven, reliable option versus newer programs that may be buggy or problematic. Dr. Jay West, Dr. Peter Stanton, and Dr. Joseph Opack of St. Paul, MN, report how easy it is to use Dentrix to switch to paperless charting. “[It’s] very user friendly. Accessibility is wonderful,” the trio of dentists say. This software program enables their dental practice to “focus on the patient instead of the process of the paperwork,” they elaborate.
It also has a “wow factor,” explains Dr. Dennis Kent of LaGrange, IL. His patients are able to “visualize the treatment they need and to allay their fears about the treatment they don’t need,” he says. Dental treatment acceptance rates are higher with Dentrix, Dr. Kent notes. “The ‘doubters’ are easily handled with the visuals they get [from the program].”
Software Features: Dentrix is one of the most widely used dental management software programs and has a number of useful features for dentists, hygienists, and front office staff, including:
Price: $350/mo per dentist
Why People Love It: Dr. Jesse Ritter at Smile Solutions of Baltimore discusses in a video how the application makes it easy to integrate new team members into a dental practice. “The user interface is so clean compared to other softwares,” he says. It’s not overcomplicated or difficult to navigate, making charting extraordinarily easy.
Software Features: Curve Dental allows professionals to access patient records securely from any device with an internet connection. It also offers:
Price: $395/mo per practice
Why People Love It: Aaron DeForest, DDS, with DentalTechUp, mentions in his video review of the program that one of his favorite features is the software’s all – inclusive pricing. You get most of the capabilities for a flat rate, without a lot of upselling to access greater usability. “I also like the unlimited users and providers,” Dr. DeForest says. “So if you have multiple doctors at the office, you don’t have to pay extra.”
Software Features: iDentalSoft allows dentists to schedule, chart, bill, and plan treatments for patients all in the same user – friendly interface. Other helpful features include:
Price: $200/mo per practice
Why People Love It: Dr. Millard Roth, owner of Laguna Hills Dental in California, describes the superb imaging that is available with EagleSoft. “[It] has exceeded my expectations,” he says. “[My hygienists] are very happy that I made the change in my practice because they don’t have to retake images.” He continues, saying, “The clarity is better than ever before. It’s a very rewarding improvement.”
Software Features: Owned by Patterson Dental, EagleSoft prides itself on all of its features, including:
Price: $649 per month for a single office location
Why People Love It: Dmitry Burshteyn, co-founder and CEO of Progressive Dental Management, praises Denticon’s easy-to-use cloud – based platform. “Having a cloud – based solution took away the bottleneck of servers,” Burshteyn explains, emphasizing the importance of starting with a solid practice management solution. “You need to start with [software] like Denticon that can scale with you,” Burshteyn adds.
Instead of using expensive legacy software options that eventually become out of date, dentists can stay up-to-the-minute with the latest in dental practice management technology. It also offers a portal that allows patients to access their medical records and better manage their dental care.
Software Features: Denticon is a cloud – based dental management software that has some of the following features:
Dental lab veteran of 35 years and author Bill Warner advises professionals on how to choose the right dental practice management program for their clinics. “It’s important to deal with a [software provider] that understands the needs and vision of your practice,” he says.
Here are some questions to ask yourself when deciding which practice management software to purchase:
“One of the things we weighed heavily was longevity of the software and company,” Dr. Gamble says. He depicts a “nightmare scenario” for dental practices that invest time, money, and effort into new dental software, only for the company to later phase out and stop supporting the software in place of something new. He also warns that upgrades and new integrations may be incompatible with aged software packages.
Although choosing a dental management software program can seem intimidating at first, especially when comparing paid practice management applications to programs that are available with a free download, you can help the process go more smoothly with these tips.
Start with an outline of must – have features as well as any deal breakers. Look for a software solution that has as many of the features you want as possible within your budget and as few of the features that you don’t want or need. If possible, ask for a software demo so that you can try a program on for size before fully committing to investing your practice’s time, effort, and money.
Image courtesy of istock.com/Bojan89
Last updated on Jul 24, 2024.
Originally published on Sep 01, 2022.
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