How to Choose The Best Dental Software

When you run a dental practice, it's important to choose management dental software to help you organize and optimize your clinic.  

With so many options available, it can be overwhelming to decide which one is best for your needs.  

This is where we come in. In this article, we will discuss what dental practice management software is and how to choose one for your practice. We’ll also provide a list of the best dental software available today.  

Without further ado, let’s get started.

What is Dental Software and Why is It Important?

Dental practice management software provides tools for dental practices to store patient information and records. It also enables them to oversee day-to-day operations.  

The goals of this management system are to streamline processes and help dental practices become more efficient – from delivering quality dental care to administrative tasks and patient follow-up.

This type of software is similar to an electronic health records system (EHR). It's packed with various features like appointment scheduling, reporting, data storing and sharing, treatment plans, patient notes, dental history charting, and more.  

You can use this software to ensure your dental practice runs smoothly. It’s particularly important for ensuring that patient information is stored securely and is easily accessible.

5 Dental Practice Management Software Trends

When it comes to management software, it’s important to be aware of trends because this knowledge can help you deliver the best care possible to your patients and future-proof your business.  

The trends below are expected to become standard soon. This is why you need to find an all-in-one practice management solution that enables you to streamline your processes, attract new patients, and grow your practice.  

1. Artificial Intelligence – The use of AI is becoming increasingly common in every aspect of healthcare, including dental care. You can use AI solutions for things like better patient communication, answering basic patient questions promptly, improved scheduling features, and more.  

2. Mobile-Friendly Solutions – The global trend in digital communication is leaning toward mobile technology. 92.1% of internet users access the web via mobile. The same is true in the dental realm, which is why you will see trends such as HIPAA-compliant text messaging, mobile-friendly scheduling and communication, and mobile telemedicine.  

3. Integrated Digital Imaging – Third-party integrated digital imaging guarantees a smooth transition from using your existing imaging software to using new software. This allows you to accurately plan and improve dentist/patient communication.

4. Membership Program Management – To boost revenue and loyalty, more and more dental practices are adding patient membership programs. This can be incredibly helpful, especially for those who don’t have dental insurance.  

5. Reputation Management – is crucial in today’s digital world where a single negative review can impact your practice’s image and profitability. People also check out reviews and recommendations before they choose a dentist. Dental reputation and review management will make it easier for you to monitor reviews and social media mentions.

The Top 3 Criteria for Choosing the Best Management Software

There are dozens of dental management software systems out there so it can get overwhelming to choose the best one for your practice.  

Having a set of criteria can help you refine your list. It's useful to keep these criteria in mind:

• HIPAA Compliant – Choose a dental management system that adheres to HIPAA regulations. If you choose a dental management software that doesn’t make compliance, you’ll put your patients’ information at risk.  
• Value for Money – Not all dental management software systems are created equal. Since you’ll be investing money in one, it should offer the best value for its price.  

• Customer Support – It's critical to have dental practice management software that can provide you with top-notch customer support.  

These three are the main criteria that we feel are crucial to every practice, but you can add more, depending on your needs and demands.  

Essential Dental Software Features

More and more dental software vendors are offering all-in-one solutions with an ever-expanding list of features.  But what features are critical to your practice's growth and success?

• Periodontal Charts – Your management software system should have a graphical representation of the periodontal chart. This includes clickable teeth, 3D modeling, and more.  
• Documentation – You should be able to electronically document orders, patient history, progress, prescriptions, and more.  
• Patient Registration – Your software should allow patients or front desk staff to input patient information, like health history, insurance, and other details.  

• Electronic Prescriptions – You should be able to create and send digital prescriptions to patients. This is usually linked with electronic prescription services like SureScripts.  
• Billing/Claims – Your software of choice should be able to generate and submit claims to insurance for repayment. It should also include features that enable you to process payments for self-pay patients.  
• Web-Based Dental Software – Software licenses for on-premise systems are expensive. Opting for web-based software is cheaper since there’s no need to invest in expensive servers. Web-based systems are also easier to access on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones, whether in or out of the office, compared to on-premise systems.

Top 5 Picks for Dental Office Management Software

1. Nexhealth

NexHealth offers a platform for patient communications and experience management for medical and dental practices.  

It connects patients, doctors, and healthcare developers through various features like real-time online booking, a health record system, two-way messaging, payments, standardized API, and more.  

Pricing: Pricing is $350 per month, per feature.

Pricing Model: Subscription

Training: Nexhealth provides documentation, webinars, in-person training, and live online training

Support: NexHealth offers email or help desk, chat, and phone support

Cloud-Based Hosting: Yes 

HIPAA Compliant: Yes 

2. Dental Intelligence

Dental Intelligence is a web-based analytics platform that provides dental practices with easy-to-understand reports and dashboards. It’s popular among dental practices because it makes data analysis so much easier, which enables them to make actionable, data-driven decisions faster.  

As a result, dental practices can provide quality patient care.  

Pricing: $1,500 set up fee and a monthly fee of $449. However, you can get a cost estimate for your practice.

Pricing Model: Subscription

Training: Articles, videos, podcasts, one-on-one training, and seminars (both live and on-demand seminars available)

Support: Technical support via email, phone, and chat

Cloud-Based Hosting: Yes 

HIPAA Compliant: Yes 

3. Weave

Weave is a comprehensive, web-based phone system that offers two-way texting functions, customer insights, payment processing, and more.  

It was designed to help businesses deal with busy call times efficiently and make the most out of every opportunity throughout the patient experience.  

As a result, you have a more productive front office.  

Pricing: $399 per month for core product, $100 per month for reviews service add-ons, $750 one-time setup fee.

Pricing Model: Subscription

Training: Weave blogs, webinars, demo, one-on-one training, weave online training camp

Support: Technical support via email, phone, and chat

Cloud-Based Hosting: Yes 

HIPAA Compliant: Yes 

4. Swell

Swell is a reputation management platform that specializes in helping local dental clinics improve their customer interactions, strengthen their online reputation, and attract new patients.

It also a patient communication program that enables you to send messages in various forms to individuals or targeted groups, from a single messaging tool.  

You can engage your site visitors through webchat and help streamline the appointment-scheduling and payment submission process.  

You can also use Swell to make customer surveys easier and gather more positive reviews. Overall, Swell aims to help practices generate & manage online reviews, communicate with patients, and measure patient satisfaction.  

Pricing: Pricing starts at $179 per month for a single location and an extra $79 per month for Webchat.

Pricing Model: Subscription

Training: Documentation, webinars, live online training, videos

Support: Technical support via email or help desk, phone, knowledge base, and chat

Cloud-Based Hosting: Yes 

HIPAA Compliant: Yes 

5. BoomCloud

BoomCloud is a software that enables dental practices to organize, create, and automate an in-house membership program. This provides patients with the ability to get treatments they otherwise would not be able to receive.  

It’s especially helpful for patients who don’t have insurance benefits without paying out of pocket.  

As a result, you have happy patients, and you can generate recurring revenue for your practice.  

Pricing: Pricing is $399 per month per location. There’s also a one-time set up fee. If you go for an annual subscription, you only have to pay $299 monthly.  

Pricing Model: Subscription

Training: Documentation, webinars, articles, videos, and other knowledge base

Support: Technical support via email or help desk

Cloud-Based Hosting: Yes 

HIPAA Compliant: Yes 

What’s Next After Choosing The Best Dental Management Software for Your Practice?

Now that you know the trends, features, criteria, and the top 5 dental practice software to choose from, use it to your advantage when refining your options.  

You can also consult experts at Digital Resource to help you decide on software that not only makes your clinic more effective in providing quality treatment but also efficient in generating new patients.  

Once you’ve found the best management software for your practice’s needs, it’s time to focus on digital marketing. Marketing is the key to growing your business!

Contact us today to get started!

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