I want to welcome everyone reading this to the very first issue of The Digital Dentist Newsletter! This has been a work in progress for close to a year and I am thrilled to finally get it out to you. As many of you know, I currently have two online resources for people to get more information on dental technology: my website at www.thedigitaldentist.com and my blog at thedigitaldentist.blogspot.com. So, why a newsletter? Well, I find that many people are very busy during the day and simply don’t have time to surf websites to get the information that they need. So, rather than have you find the information, the information will come to you!  

The newsletter will be delivered to you each week and will consist of three sections: an introduction by me, a section devoted to a topic that I think would be of interest to people in the dental field, and a review of a product or service. While the goal is to pass along information that I have, I will gladly accept any suggestions from reads about products or services they are using that they would like to see evaluated in the newsletter. I want this to be as interactive as possible.  

Special thanks to Dentrix, this month’s sponsor. We’ve installed Dentrix in over 200 offices and always enjoy working with them and their products. I hope to have an article on the new features in G2 as soon as possible.

As I’ve written about this in the past, here are the six steps that every office must follow to create a chartless practice. We’ll be discussing each of these over the coming months:
 

1. Practice Management Software. It all starts with the administrative software that is running the practice. To develop a chartless practice, this software must be capable of some very basic functions, such as the ability to enter charting, treatment plans, handle insurance estimation and processing with e-claims, ongoing patient retention and recall activation, scheduling, and about dozens of other functions that are used on a daily basis. Many older programs do not have these features and if an office wants to move forward, they will have to look at more modern practice software.
2. Image Management Software. This is probably the most challenging decision for any office. Most of the practice management programs will offer an image management module: Eaglesoft has Advanced Imaging, Dentrix has Image 4.5, and so on. These modules are tightly integrated with the practice management software and will tend to work best with digital systems sold by the company. However, there are also many third-party image programs that will bridge very easily to the practice management software and offer more flexibility and choices, although with slightly less integration. Some of the better known image programs include Apteryx XRayVision, XDR, and Tigerview.
3. Operatory Design. The days of a single intraoral camera and a TV in the upper corner are being replaced by more modern systems. The majority of offices are placing two monitors in the operatories, one for the patient to view images or patient education or entertainment, and one for the dentist and staff to use for charting and treatment planning and any HIPAA-sensitive information. There are numerous ergonomic issues that must be addressed when placing the monitors, keyboards, and mice. For example, a keyboard that is placed in a position that requires the dentist to twist his or her back around will cause problems, as will a monitor that is improperly positioned.
4. Computer hardware. After the software has been chosen and the operatories designed, it’s time to add the computers. Most offices will require a dedicated server in order to protect their data as well as having the necessary horsepower to run the network, and the workstations must be configured to handle the higher graphical needs of the office. The computers placed in the operatories are often different from the front desk computers in many ways: they’ll have dual display capabilities, better video cards to handle digital imaging, smaller cases to fit inside the cabinets, and wireless keyboards and mice.
5. Digital systems. The choice of image software will dictate which systems are compatible. Digital radiography is the hot technology at this time, due to the benefits of faster times to view images, higher resolution, and the ability to easily enhance the image but intraoral cameras are still an excellent addition to any office since they allow patients to see the things that typically only a practitioner could see. All systems have pros and cons and dentists will have to evaluate each system based on a set of standards that are important to that practice.
6. Data Protection. With a chartless practice, protecting the data is absolutely crucial to prevent data loss due to malware or user errors. Every office, at a minimum, should be using antivirus software to protect against the multitude of known viruses and worms, a firewall to protect against hackers who try to infiltrate the network, and have an easy-to-verify backup protocol in place to be able to recover from any disaster. The different backup protocols are as varied as the number of offices, but it is crucial that the backup is taken offsite daily and can be restored in a quick manner.

The product that I would like to focus on this issue is the new intraoral camera from Sota Optics, the Claris i310D. (http://sotaoptics.com/products_i310d.html). I have always been a fan of fiber optic cameras in the past. What I wasn’t so crazy about, though, was the size of the docking stations. I wanted to recommend USB cameras, but the image quality...well…basically, it sucked. That is no longer the case. Sota Optics has been making the optics for intraoral cameras for a long time, such as the Vipercam and Dentrix ImageCam. We’ve been recommending their docking-station version for years, but this new camera is quite nice. It only weighs 2.4 oz, so it’s very portable. The connection is a simple USB cable, no fancy connections. Focus and capture are right on the handpiece, although you certainly can use a foot pedal if you prefer. Image quality is easily the best I’ve ever seen for a USB camera, and is on par with fiber optic cameras.  

If there’s any downside, it’s the fact that for a USB camera to work, it has to be compatible with software. While this camera works great with most third-party image programs, it currently does not work with Dentrix Image or Eaglesoft Imaging, although the older docking-station versions, which use the exact same handpiece, are certainly an option. Retail cost is $3500 but we can always get a discount if anyone is interested in the camera.  

Thanks for reading. Please let me know if you like the newsletter and how I can improve it.