Of all the tools a dentist must use, the most important to building a successful practice isn’t a probe or a drill; it’s dental practice management software.

In today’s world, practice management software is indispensable in helping dentists organize their offices to efficiently deliver the quality and service patients demand. With so many dentists out there, your patients have choices. So it’s up to you to create a practice that attracts and retains patients for the long term.

Dental practice management software can help you in several ways, like:

1) Streamlining administrative tasks: Software can help automate many tasks, such as appointment scheduling, patient reminders, insurance billing, and claims management. It can also save you time and reduce errors while freeing up staff to focus on patient care.

2) Improving patient care: Digitized records help dentists and staff access patient information quickly and easily, including treatment history, medical conditions, and medications. Having this info at your fingertips improves the quality of care and helps you make informed treatment decisions.

3) Enhancing communication: Practice management software can improve communication between dentists, staff, and patients. Many software options include automated appointment reminders, secure messaging, and patient portals allowing patients to view their treatment plans, appointment history, and account balances.

4) Increasing efficiency: Dental practice management software can help your entire team work more efficiently, enabling you to handle more patients in less time. When patients spend less time in the waiting room or waiting in the chair for you to be available, you’ll see your revenue grow and increase patient satisfaction.

5) Improving data management: Software can help your office manage patient data more efficiently and securely, including electronic health records, imaging files, and financial data. This can improve accuracy, reduce errors, and help practices stay compliant with regulations like HIPAA.

What Should You Look for in Dental Practice Management Software?

It’s easy to see that software can help your practice, but when you do a Google search or a salesperson calls, it’s hard to tell one practice management software from another. So what should you look for?

Before we get into our reviews of dental practice management software solutions, let’s look at five important things to consider:

Functionality: The software you choose should offer features essential to your practice, such as appointment scheduling, patient charting, billing, and insurance claims management. Ensure the software provides specific features to manage your practice efficiently.

Ease of use: The software should be user-friendly and easy to learn. Consider whether the software offers training and support resources to help you and your staff get up to speed quickly. And check out online reviews to see if real-life users confirm their “easy-to-use” marketing.

Integration: Does the software integrate with other systems you use, such as accounting software, patient communication tools, and imaging software? Integration of your platforms will streamline operations and help cut down on costly errors.

Security: HIPAA compliance is a MUST for any dental practice software. Ensure the software offers data encryption, regular backups, and secure access controls to keep your and your patient’s sensitive data safe.

Cost: When looking at pricing, take into consideration the upfront and ongoing costs of the software, including licensing fees, support fees, and upgrade costs. Ensure the software fits within your budget and offers a good return on investment for your practice.

The Best Dental Practice Management Software Solutions for 2023

We’ve selected a few of our favorite software solutions to review for this article. Read about them to see which one might fit your office well.

Dentrix®

Dentrix® by Henry Schein One is one of the most popular and comprehensive dental practice management software options. Dental health giant Henry Schein backs it, and it’s been around for over 20 years, so they must be doing a few things right.

The software is more like a suite of connected software modules covering a range of needs, from appointment scheduling, insurance billing, and electronic claims management to practice marketing.

Overall, it’s a do-everything solution that can help streamline the operations of almost any office. But, like most big software suites, it’s not easily customizable, and some users have reported that the software can be slow or buggy at times.

What’s Great about Dentrix®?

Comprehensive features: Dentrix® offers a wide range of features to streamline practice operations, including appointment scheduling, insurance billing, patient communication, and electronic claims management.

Ease of use: Many users have reported that Dentrix® is user-friendly and easy to learn, even for staff members who have little to no experience with dental practice management software.

Customizable workflows: Dentrix® allows you to customize workflows to work with how your office does things, which can help improve efficiency and adoption.

Robust reporting: Dentrix® offers a range of reporting options that can help practices track critical metrics and identify areas for improvement.

Integrations: Dentrix® can integrate with other software systems, such as accounting software and imaging software, to streamline practice operations and reduce errors.

Excellent customer support: Many users have reported that Dentrix® offers superior customer support, helpful resources, and responsive technical troubleshooting.

Overall, Dentrix® is a comprehensive and user-friendly dental practice management software that can help practices operate more efficiently and effectively.

What’s NOT so Great about Dentrix®?

Cost: Dentrix® can be expensive ($500/mo for 10 users + a setup fee), especially for smaller practices or practices with limited budgets. The upfront costs for licensing and implementation can be high, and ongoing support fees can add up over time.

Learning curve: While many users have reported that Dentrix® is user-friendly, some users say that the learning curve can be steep, especially for less tech-friendly staff members new to dental practice management software.

Speed: Dentrix® can sometimes be slow, especially when running reports or performing other resource-intensive tasks. And you don’t want to keep your patients waiting while your software does its thing.

Limited customization: While Dentrix® allows for some customization, online reviewers frequently report that the software could be more flexible and offer more customization options.

Software bugs: Some users have reported experiencing software bugs or glitches when using Dentrix, which can be frustrating and time-consuming to resolve.

Final Verdict

Dentrix® is a strong all-around performer and one of the leaders in the dental practice management software space. It’s perfect for larger practices that can afford it, but it may not be the ideal fit for some smaller practices, practices on a budget, or doctors searching for a highly-customizable solution.

Eaglesoft

With over 30,000 active users, Eaglesoft gives Dentrix® a run for its money in terms of a comprehensive solution that integrates almost every aspect of your business. Plus, it’s owned by another dental health giant, Patterson Dental, so you know the software will continue to be around and supported for the long term.

Eaglesoft offers a range of features for scheduling, charting, billing, and patient communication. It also offers seamless integration with revenue cycle management tools and other Patterson software solutions for patient engagement, easy reporting, and more.

What’s Great about Eaglesoft?

Patient communication: Eaglesoft offers a range of patient communication tools, including automated appointment reminders, secure messaging, and patient portals that allow patients to view their treatment plans, appointment history, and account balances.

Customizable workflows: Eaglesoft allows practices to customize workflows to meet their specific needs, which can help improve efficiency and productivity.

Charting: Dentists and assistants praise Eaglesoft’s charting feature for its ease of use and ability to create and update patient charts quickly.

Imaging: Eaglesoft offers advanced imaging capabilities, including viewing and storing digital images and creating comprehensive treatment plans.

Integration: Eaglesoft can integrate with other software systems, including an extensive list of patient engagement, security & compliance, reporting analytics, and revenue cycle management tools owned by the same company.

Training and support: Eaglesoft gives you access to many training and support resources, including online training modules and a dedicated support team.

What’s NOT so Great about Eaglesoft?

Learning curve: Eaglesoft is a powerful software but, like many powerful software, it takes some time to get up to speed.

Updates: It’s no fun when you’re up and running with the software, and then everything changes. But some practices have said that Eaglesoft updates can disrupt practice operations, and the software may not always be backward compatible with older versions.

Speed: Some online reviews say that Eaglesoft can be slow or buggy, especially when running reports or performing other resource-intensive tasks.

Final Verdict

While not everyone loves it, Eaglesoft remains a popular and highly regarded dental practice management software option. It’s more affordable than Dentrix, at $200/month for a single office. And it does boast an impressive range of powerful features to streamline your operations.

PracticeBeacon

PracticeBeacon is the first software designed to help orthodontics offices start more patients quickly. It was created by orthodontic growth expert HIP based on the best practice they’ve used to build multiple 8-figure orthodontic practices. The software puts growth best practices on autopilot to help you plug the leaks in your processes to grow revenue.

While it’s not a do-everything software for dentists like the options above, it’s a one-of-a-kind tool for growth that deserves a place on this list.

What’s Great about PracticeBeacon?

Automated Follow-Up: PracticeBeacon puts lead follow-up on autopilot to help offices convert a higher percentage of their leads. Using automated text messages and emails, the software automates an ideal follow-up schedule to increase multiple new patient starts.

Communication Hub: See all your communication with a potential patient—including phone call recordings, Facebook messages, text messages, and SMS—on one screen. You can even reply to Facebook messages and initiate phone calls from inside the platform.

ROI Tracking: Many dentists and orthodontists never know if their digital ads are making money. But PracticeBeacon makes it easy to track your leads based on their ad source and how much money those patients bring in. So you can finally understand what you’re making from your advertising investment in dollars and cents rather than clicks.

Time-Saving Optimizations: PracticeBeacon is about making converting leads into patients easier with streamlined tools. Their online scheduling widget makes it easy for patients to book their own appointments, automated appointment reminders cut down on no-shows, and the on-site chat widget helps you help convert prospective patients in real time.

Secret Shopping: What is your front desk doing when nobody is looking? With PracticeBeacon, you can secretly shop your own practice to get a report on how quickly they reply to inquiries and how often they follow up. Then, coach the methods you want to see until your staff meets expectations.

Review Management: Automatically send review requests to patients at strategically placed times in their treatment to build your online reputation. Add incentives to get even more positive reviews!

Mobile App: PracticeBeacon’s convenient mobile app makes it easy for dental teams to help potential patients, even when not in the office.

What’s NOT Great about PracticeBeacon?

Insurance & Billing: The software focuses on growth more than clinical patient management, so it has no functionality for billing, handling insurance claims, or managing treatment plans.

Patient Records: PracticeBeacon doesn’t help you track digital records of your patient’s treatment history.

Final Verdict

PracticeBeacon is the #1 software for growth-minded orthodontists. It’s helped fuel the growth of multiple 8-figure ortho practices and can help anyone implement proven best practices for lead conversion. But there are better fits for a general dentist looking to improve record keeping and streamline insurance billing.

Curve Hero™️

Curve Hero™️ is a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) dental practice management solution that offers a range of features for scheduling, charting, billing, and patient communication. Their focus is on making everything as easy as possible, and their accessibility is a plus for tech-savvy dental practices.

What’s Great about Curve Hero™️?

Cloud-based: Curve Hero™️ is a cloud-based software, meaning users can access it anywhere with an internet connection. This can be especially beneficial for practices with multiple locations or remote staff.

On-Demand Support: When something goes wrong with dental practice management software, your entire operation grinds to a halt. Curve Hero™️’s world-class support team is available 24/7/365. They answer support calls in about a minute and average just 8 minutes to resolve a case.

Comprehensive: Curve doesn’t sacrifice functionality versus the on-site software solutions we’ve reviewed. With functions for charting, billing, imaging, patient engagement, and reporting, plus a patient portal, Curve Hero™️ is a full-service solution.

User-friendly interface: Many users have reported that Curve Hero™️ is easy to use and navigate, with a clean and modern interface.

Pricing: Curve Hero™️ offers transparent and affordable pricing with no hidden fees or long-term contracts. Pricing starts at $350/month for one dentist, with no startup or implementation costs.

What’s NOT Great about Curve Hero™️?

Reporting: The reporting functionality needs some work, with little ability to customize reports or combine data from production and collections into one report, for instance.

Internet-dependent: Because it’s a cloud-based SaaS system, you lose access when the internet goes down. If you have inadequate or unreliable internet access, you could find yourself out of luck at a critical time.

Technical glitches: Curve Hero™️ is a newer solution than the other all-in-one software above, and they appear to be still working through some issues and adding new features.

Final Verdict

If dental management software follows the trend of the rest of the economy, then cloud-based SaaS solutions are the future. While it still has room for improvement, Curve Hero™️ is a comprehensive cloud-based solution with over 70,000 users and the highest user rating on G2 of the full-service dental practice management software solutions we’ve reviewed here.

Open Dental

Open Dental is a flexible and affordable dental practice management software that offers features like patient scheduling, insurance billing, and electronic claims management. Open Dental is known for its user-friendly interface and robust reporting capabilities, offering much more customization options than many competitors.

What’s Great about Open Dental?

Customizable: Compared to the other options, Open Dental is highly customizable, with the ability to create customized forms, templates, and workflows to meet the specific needs of your practice.

Open-source: Open Dental is open-source software, meaning users can access and modify the source code to suit their needs. This can be especially beneficial for practices with unique needs or requirements, making adding or improving features easy.

Feature-Rich: Open Dental offers all the main features of the other dental practice management software, like electronic claims management, paperless charting, online patient forms, and online scheduling. They even have a feature for creating and issuing e-prescriptions.

Third-party integration: Open Dental integrates with various third-party software systems, such as imaging software, patient communication tools, and accounting software. And because it is open-source, almost any integration can be created, even if it doesn’t exist today.

User community & support: Open Dental has a large and active user community you can tap into for advice and support. Plus, their support is responsive and available to help with problem-solving and customization tasks.

Affordable: Open Dental is one of the more affordable dental practice management software options available, with a monthly cost of just $179 per office location and minimal setup fees.

What’s NOT Great about Curve Hero™️?

Learning curve: Some users have reported that the learning curve can be steep when starting with Open Dental, especially for staff members who aren’t technically adept.

Technical support: While Open Dental offers excellent technical support, some users have reported that the support quality can be inconsistent, with long wait times and difficulty getting issues resolved.

Customization complexity: While Open Dental is highly customizable, some users have reported that the customization process can be complex and time-consuming, especially for practices with limited technical expertise.

User interface: While many users appreciate the customization options available in Open Dental, some have reported that the interface can feel outdated or difficult to navigate.

Final Verdict

If you value customization, then Open Dental might be your dental practice management software. But if you’re more concerned about ease of use and getting your team on board, there may be better options. Open Dental is a powerful software that can do almost everything you want, but it may take some work and customization to make it work seamlessly into your workflow.

Which Practice Management Software Is Right for You?

Only you can know which of these excellent software solutions is ideal for managing your practice. The good news is that these solutions are feature-rich, high-performing software suites with excellent overall user reviews.

The most important thing about any practice management software is that you commit fully to making it work. Of course, with any new solution, there will be hiccups and hangups during implementation. But if you stick with it and work through the issues, your practice will improve efficiency, and the boost in profits will quickly pay off your investment. Good luck!