Potential Open Dental User

[spsheffield]

I am seriously looking into going with open dental for my practice management system. I just bought my practice from a dentist that retired, and the staff are not real computer literate. At this time there is one computer in the office utilizing Softdent for scheduling, billing, and printing claims, and until I took over, the computer was not even online. My plan is to slowly work towards making the office fully digital and bringing it into the 21st century. However, I am no computer guru, and my staff is going to need a lot of training to head in that direction. Is there anyone out there who has been in the same boat? Is open dental a good fit for the computer illiterate? I am sitting here reading a lot of forum posts, and a lot of this seems way over my head, but maybe it's just because I'm still not that familiar with the software, although I have downloaded the trial version. Any comments are greatly appreciated.

[Jorgebon]

When we started out with Open Dental I had an older assistant that had never even touched a computer and another one who was scared to death that she might mess something up. I knew I couldn't just start full blast with Open Dental from the first day. So I started up by downloading the trial version at home and learning all the basics myself. I entered new patients, charted conditions, treatment planned, print out some claims, and then entered imaginary insurance payments. Setup everything the way you would like it. Once you understand how it all works, take it to the office and show it to your employees. Have them enter a few caries so they can see how easy it is. Your chairside assistant should understand how to chart caries, missing teeth, etc. Your front desk should be able to give appointments and enter payments and make claims. You should know how to do it all. Then get the computers, Printers/scanners, network and internet set up, and you're ready to go.
Jorge Bonilla, DMD

[jordansparks]

Running a computer is simply part of being business owner. Yes, there's a learning curve for everyone. But if you and your staff can't become somewhat computer literate, then your business will suffer and you will be less profitable. Open Dental is the easiest dental software on the market to operate. You just have to accept that the benefit of learning how to use computers outweighs the cost. The staff will eventually learn. The most important skill you must learn is how to make good backups and how to restore them to your home computer. If you don't do that, you may lose months worth of financial data. You can imagine how devastating that would be. But as long as you do that, moving to computers will increase your profit.

[Shoagland]

I had Softdent as my first computer practice managment system starting in 1988. I switched to OD in 2007 because SD was not keeping up well with all the changes going on in the digital field and many other areas that are too numerous to mention. The first thing I would do is build a network so there are computers in the operatories, then I would run, not walk to OD. It is one of the best business tools I have used in dentistry, easy to use and a geat value. Jordan and OD keep improving the product , an investment to creat the network will be a key in making OD the foundation of a powerfull business model. All your data from SD can be converted, dont mess around deciding as your current configuration is limiting and costing you in productivity,