Switching your practice management software is a major decision that often brings anxiety about data loss and staff downtime. While the transition requires effort, understanding the reality of the process helps you determine if Open Dental is good for your dental practice and how to prepare your team for the change.
What Converts and What Doesn't
When you move to Open Dental, the conversion process is designed to bring over your most critical data, but it is rarely a 100% mirror image of your previous system.
Typically, the following data converts successfully:
- Patient Demographics: Names, addresses, phone numbers, and insurance subscriber information.
- Appointment History: Past and future appointments.
- Procedure History: Completed work and clinical notes (though formatting may vary).
- Account Balances: Current patient and insurance balances.
- Insurance Plans: Basic plan structures and coverage tables.
However, you should expect that the following items will NOT convert:
- Custom Reports: Any specialized reports you built in your old software will need to be recreated using Open Dental’s built-in report tools or custom queries.
- Letter Templates: You will need to copy and paste your existing templates into the Letter Merge feature.
- Preferences and Settings: Global settings, user permissions, and office-specific defaults must be manually configured in the Setup menu.
- Proprietary Image Formats: While standard JPEGs and DICOM files usually move over, some proprietary imaging formats from older software may require specialized handling or manual export.
The Conversion Timeline
A successful transition generally takes between 4 to 8 weeks from your initial inquiry to your go-live date.
- Initial Inquiry and Test Conversion: You submit your data for a free test conversion. This allows you to see how your data looks inside the software before committing.
- Review Period (2-4 weeks): Use this time to thoroughly check the test database. Verify that clinical notes are readable, balances are accurate, and insurance plans are linked correctly.
- Final Conversion (3 hours): On your scheduled go-live date, your old software is locked, and the final data migration occurs. This usually takes about three hours.
- Post-Conversion Setup: Open Dental includes a two-hour setup session to help your team configure the Appointments Module, Account Module, and insurance settings to match your workflow.
Cost Breakdown
Open Dental is known for its transparent pricing model, which differs significantly from many legacy systems.
- Conversion Fee: This is a one-time fee that varies based on your source software, typically ranging from $500 to $2,000+.
- Monthly Fee: The cost is $179/month for the first 12 months, then $129/month. Crucially, there are no per-provider fees, meaning your costs do not increase as your practice grows.
- Imaging: If you have a large volume of images that require complex migration, this may be billed as a separate service.
What Will Surprise You
Even with a perfect conversion, the transition involves a learning curve. Here are a few things that often catch new users off guard:
- The Interface: Open Dental uses a functional, data-dense interface. It looks different from the polished, marketing-heavy interfaces of other software and may take your front desk staff a few days to navigate comfortably.
- Manual Configuration: You will spend time in the Setup menu defining your own defaults. Unlike "plug-and-play" software, Open Dental is highly customizable, which means you have to tell it how you want it to behave.
- Report Differences: You may find that a report you relied on in your previous software doesn't exist in the same format. You will likely need to use the Reports > Standard menu to find the equivalent or reach out to the community for help with custom queries.
Your First 30 Days
Once you go live, prioritize these tasks to stabilize your operations:
- Verify Insurance: Check the Account Module for every patient scheduled in the next week to ensure insurance plans are attached correctly.
- Set Up Defaults: Go to Setup > Appointments > Appt View to ensure your schedule looks the way your team needs it to.
- Configure Billing: Ensure your billing defaults are set in Setup > Account > Billing Defaults so that statements generate correctly.
- Train on Notes: Ensure your clinical team is comfortable entering notes in the Chart Module.
Once you're on Open Dental, DentalCanvas gives you the visual analytics dashboard that your previous software never had — and that Open Dental doesn't include.
This article is provided by opendentalsupport.com, an independent community resource. We are not affiliated with Open Dental Software, Inc.