What Software Do Dental Offices Use?

In today’s age where almost everything’s taking place in the digital world, dental professionals like you should already be getting things done with dental practice management software.  

Whether it’s keeping medical records or keeping track of appointments, it has gotten more convenient than ever to perform office duties thanks to technology.  

If you’re still storing patient files in a drawer or using a calendar planner to take note of appointments, it’s high time that you invest in reliable software. Especially since you’re often busy taking care of your patients, having the right tools is a huge must.  

It’ll get things in order while allowing you to produce the results you’re aiming for. In other words, having the right dental software will lessen the burden and make your life easier.

So, what software do dental offices use to simplify their day-to-day operations? What makes these dental practice management programs so outstanding that you should choose them? You’re about to find out in this post!

Before we can get into them, however, let’s first talk about the numerous benefits dental software brings to the table.

Reasons to Invest in Dental Software

More than half of dentists use dental software to streamline their administrative processes and patient care. So far, they’ve seen nothing but tremendous results from their decision. Here’s why:

Note-Taking Made 5x Simpler

Tired of jotting down dental notes for every patient you have? Well, thanks to dental software, you can finally stop wasting your precious time creating, tracking, and finding your notes! Plus, you can find them all in one place!

Just make sure to pick one that has a note-taking function. Better yet, a tool that comes with a built-in speech dictation feature so you can add notes using your voice. You’ll be able to discuss with a patient while taking down notes simultaneously. How cool is that?

Hassle-Free Scheduling

As a dentist, most of your work processes depend on scheduling, particularly on what procedures will be performed at a certain time. There’d be instances where you find yourself getting too overwhelmed in trying to comprehend the information.  

Fortunately, with dental software, you don’t have to stress about schedule management anymore. It offers smooth scheduling which gives you all the necessary details at a glance.  

Some programs even reveal a patient’s consultation status, label providers, and the type of treatment arranged.

Seamless Treatment Planning

Coming up with a treatment plan can be an arduous task. Since it requires your patients’ medical history and other vital info, you’ll need to spend a lot of time digging through piles of files in your cabinets.

Practice management software helps you get access to a patient’s entire treatment history within a couple of minutes in just a few clicks.

More Organized and Accurate Dental Charting

Most dental programs are built with digital charts that provide more precise and specific information about a patient’s mouth. This means you can answer any questions from your patients during ongoing treatment easily and quickly through your tablet.  

And, you’ll never have to worry about fading charts or x-ray images anymore.  

Automated Appointment Reminders and Billing

Another reason why dentists love using dental software is that it gives them more free time to look after patients by enabling them to set automated appointment reminders and billing.  

Automated reminders are delivered through texts or emails to notify patients of their upcoming appointments. Automated billing generates invoices immediately after patients are done with their treatment.  

Both features require little to no human support as soon as you set them up.  

The Best Software for Dental Offices

Now that you’re aware of how much easier dental software can make your life, you’re probably wondering which one’s perfect for you.  

Based on our research, we’ve rounded up the five most popular choices – all of which are HIPAA compliant and have at least a four-star review average on Software Advice and Capterra.

Plus, they’re all cloud-based solutions, which means you can run them on just about any computer as long as there’s internet. As for features, they share these:  

• Patient notes and history
• Appointment scheduling
• Online patient portal
• Patient charting  
• Treatment planning
• Billing
• Integration with other practice management platforms like 3D dental imaging software, digital imaging, and x-rays
• Insurance and claims management
• Reporting and analysis
• Staff scheduling
• Document scanning and storage
• Secure data backup
• HIPAA Compliance Software

Keep in mind that what we’ve listed above are just common features. Each program also comes with its very own features that make it stand out.  

With that in mind, let’s dive right in!

1.  tab32

A comprehensive all-in-one cloud dental software, tab32 never fails to deliver cohesive, engaging patient experiences across the care continuum.  

It is designed to help dentists of all specialties to take on today’s business challenges with ease, thanks to features such as the following:

• Intuitive user interface with contextual features. Never feel lost when you’re using this software.
• Live dashboard. Track your progress in real-time.
• DSO and groups. Centralize your appointments, management plans, reporting fees, and analytics all at one place. ‍
• Easily customizable. Pre-define progress notes, e-form fields for patient history and registration forms, communication notes, and more. ‍
• Success coach. A dedicated coach will be assigned to guide you through migration, training, follow-ups, and other support needs. They will develop a customized plan for your training depending on factors like size and location. ‍
• Quality support. Support will resolve your ticket on live calls or within the same business day.

2. Dentrix Ascend

Dentrix Ascend is here to help you spend less time managing your practice and more time caring for your patients. It packs advanced practice management and clinical tools into an easy-to-use interface, providing a unique workflow that guides you and your team to greater efficiency – on any device, from any location.

Here’s a sneak peek of what your life will be like with Dentrix Ascend:  

• Scale effortlessly. The cloud-based software is so powerful that you can scale your practice as smoothly as possible – from customizing clinical charts and designing and tracking treatment plans to gathering KPIs and scheduling appointments in just a few clicks.  ‍
• Patient check-in and check-out will be a breeze. Centralize patient data on a single, easy-to-find screen so you’ll know everything you should know once your patient arrives. ‍
• Take the guesswork out of patient care. Dentrix Ascend’s Patient Router feature displays the status of each patient, allowing you to handle their visit effectively. ‍
• Manage insurance easily. Another feature, the Insurance Manager, helps you monitor up to 10 insurance plans per patient, which means you get paid faster.

3. Curve Dental

Scheduling, patient engagement, billing, charting, and imaging – these are just some of the features you can take advantage of when you have Curve Dental.  

And, with its automated updates, you’ll always work with the latest software version every time you log in.  

Oh, and if you’re looking for the highest rated customer care in the practice management software industry, look no further than their 24/7/365 support team.

No wonder more than 50,000 dental professionals in the US and Canada are using Curve Dental! Then again, those aren’t just the only reasons. Here are several others:  

• Brilliantly designed user interface. Any member of your team can easily use it regardless of their practice management experience.
• Native digital imaging. Since it’s integrated with almost all of the popular digital x-ray sensors, you can capture images directly to the cloud, and view them too. ‍
• SaaS. Software as a Service, aka SaaS, means Curve hosts your data, provides the latest software, and makes both available to you anytime, anywhere. The only thing you need is an internet connection. ‍
• 99.9% uptime performance excellence. You just can’t say “no” to that! ‍
• Training confidence. The company offers both web- and phone-based training, and they’re usually done in 90-minute intervals to optimize retention and confidence. What’s more, all the instructors have dental practice experience and have used Curve in the real world.

4. DentiMax

A flexible, powerful dental software solution, DentiMax provides comprehensive practice management, superb x-ray sensor integration, and incredible features that allow you to perform these tasks painlessly:

• Create multiple treatment plan options for each patient
• Customize patient charting
• Verify patient insurance online
• Maintain detailed accounting
• Send prescriptions electronically
• Track employee time
• Keep your schedule full with automated texts, emails, and call reminders

5. Denticon

Denticon made history when it was introduced as the first ever cloud-based dental management software in the world.  

This top-rated, all-in-one dental solution unlocks perks for every facet of your dental business, from patient experience to multi-practice management. Here’s a couple of things that make Denticon a crowd favorite:

• Better patient and staff experience. Faster bookings, inter-clinic access to records and imaging, simple insurance billings, and appointment reminders – what more could you ask for?
• Streamlined operations. Denticon’s intuitive cloud-based tools make it possible to streamline everything, from internal staff communications to financial reporting, and more.
• Made for all dental specialties. Orthodontics, periodontics, oral surgery, endodontics, pediatric dentistry – you name it.
• Access 100+ reports. Simply pick the info you want to view, and the software will pull the data and generate the report ASAP.
• Document and save all interactions. Saving all patient communications automatically to a single, organized patient record protects your practice from medical-legal troubles.

Other Dental Software to Consider

Need more options before you can finally make a decision? Say no more!  

• Practice-Web
• ACE Dental
• SIMPLEX HIMES
• Dovetail
• iDental Soft
• Maxident
• Cloud-9
• Dentisoft

Ready to Take Your Dental Practice Up a Notch?

While installing a dental software will definitely work wonders for your business, you might want to do something about your online presence as well.  

Especially now that more and more people are shopping for dentists in search engines or social media, investing in SEO, online ads, and social media marketing is essential.  

Those are just some of the services we specialize here at Digital Resource! Having worked with countless dental offices across the country, we know what it takes to turn you into a major player in the industry.  

Contact us today to learn how we can make it happen.