The Top Dental Apps to Help Your Practice Grow

May 2020
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Much like Spotify has changed how we listen to music and Instagram has changed how we share photos, dental apps are disrupting dental office management.

We’ve scoured the app store to find our favorite dental applications of 2020. The apps we highlight below present opportunities for you to improve your practice and provide your patients with a great experience at your office.

Different types of dental apps

Below, you’ll find our picks for the 9 top dental apps of 2020, focusing on:

  • Practice Management: Operate your practice and communicate with your patients more easily and effectively.
  • Treatment Assistance: Administer treatment and communicate with your patients the importance of your recommended treatments.
  • Patient Recommendations: Empower your patients to practice optimal at home oral health. 

Practice Management

iDentalSoft

This practice management app offers HIPAA-compliant patient forms and helps provide seamless patient communication. iDentalSoft says they can help practices achieve 100% paperless practice management. 

Popular features include: 

  • Smart scheduling 
  • Online intake portal
  • Patient communications 
  • Reputation management
  • Credit card processing 
  • ePrescribe integrations 
  • Electronic dental forms

iDentalSoft claims to be the biggest and best paperless dental management software and some of the biggest practices in the country use it to help their practice run efficiently. Another reason practice’s love this app is that they provide a distinct patient portal, providing a good experience for patients. 

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Dental Anywhere

Think of this app as a way to decrease friction in your patients’ experience at the dentist. Intended to help you at every point of contact, Dental Anywhere works to make your practice more efficient.

So what exactly does Dental Anywhere help you do?

  • Appointment request, scheduling, and canceling
  • New patient forms
  • Mobile bill pay 
  • One touch referrals 
  • Appointment reminders
  • Treatment plan reviewing
  • Much more

Once you’ve purchased and set up the app, your patients will download a free app onto their mobile devices. You’ll then manage everything from your practice’s computer system.

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ZocDoc

Dedicated online scheduling apps are quickly becoming a standard for dental practices looking to work with younger patients who value the convenience of doing everything online. 

The best and most modern among the bunch is ZocDoc. Also a platform for patients looking to find a new dentist, ZocDoc provides an online scheduling integration for websites. This powerful platform…

  • Makes it easy for your patients to schedule an appointment
  • Reduces work for your team, as it automatically syncs with your office’s calendar 
  • Provides a clean user experience on your website

While it requires some digital knowhow to get it up and running on your website, we think ZocDoc offers the best for patients and offices alike. 

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Facebook Messenger

:Delmain partner Choices in Dentistry uses Facebook Messenger to easily connect with clients to answer questions and schedule appointments.

Online chat features are becoming prominent to the point of being a standard. Much like a mobile-responsive website, patients now expect a live chat experience on their dentist’s website. 

Facebook offers the ability to integrate Facebook Messenger onto your website as a small pop up at the bottom of the website. Dentists love this live chat option, as it allows their team to answer patient questions right on their phone using Facebook Messenger. It’s also free and will slide right into a modern workflow. 

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Awrel

Awrel blends convenience and security to provide dental offices and patients with a secure texting platform.

Awrel claims to be a 100% HIPAA compliant texting platform that allows you to message patients images and documents quickly and safely. It also provides a safe platform for your employees to collaborate over text and to speak to vendors and partners about specific cases within HIPAA compliance. 

In addition to working on your mobile device, the app works on your office’s desktop computer to allow you to communicate with your patients’ cell phones over your desktop computer. 

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Dropbox (so long as you take the right precautions)

Many practices are beginning to leverage file storage and sharing services such Dropbox to manage patient files and practice documents. 

The draw of Dropbox is understandable — it’s easy to manage, offers file access anywhere you are, and is often inexpensive for practices to implement. It also offers greater security as everything is safely in the cloud in the case of a break in or accident at your practice. Remote access is great for referencing patient files in the case of an emergency.

A word of caution — while Dropbox claims HIPAA compliance, you must acquire a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) from Dropbox before you put any patient files into your file storage. You also must not use third party apps in conjunction with Dropbox, as these third party apps are not covered by the BAA.

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Treatment Assistance

Dental Monitoring

Dental Monitoring provides easy and secure remote monitoring technology for your practice. This revolutionary technology allows you to provide virtual progress check-ins to your patient throughout ongoing treatment.

These virtual monitoring appointments work particularly well for orthodontic appointments that require frequent check-in appointments. 

Patients simply download the app and take selfies, send the images to you in the app, and then receive your follow up instructions. The process is seamless for your patients and allows you to keep their treatment on track. Since they don’t have to disrupt their life with frequent in-person appointments, patients stick with their treatment and are more likely to commit. They’re also able to track from the images their progress and are kept engaged throughout treatment.

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Planmeca iRomexis

Built specifically for use with an iPad, this app is used for helping dentists show patients their 2-D and 3-D x-rays. The application is optimized to display images created by Planmeca x-ray units, including Planmeca ProMax 3-D and ProFace 3D images.

The iPad app connects with the Romexis desktop software and allows for image-sharing with iPads and mobile devices anywhere. This is helpful when consulting with other dental professionals or when a new patient joins your practice.

The desktop software organizes your patient images and provides you with the most recent images. This helps you track progress on patient improvement and show them visually the progress they are making. You’ll also have the ability to send your patients their x-rays with a treatment plan attached right to their email.

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DDS GP

DDS GP, or Dental Demo Suite General Practice, provides dentists with an effective way to show patients the effect various dental issues can have on the health of their mouth over time. It also provides the ability to show how different treatments can improve the health and look of their smile.

This dental application features over 200 demonstrations of conditions and related treatments, covering a wide range of conditions and treatment options. The demonstrations use realistic images and x-rays of mouths to accurately depict oral health conditions. It even allows you to draw on and save images to aid in treatment plans for your patients.

This app has been named by dentists as one of the best dental apps available. 

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Patient Tools

MyTeeth

Designed to engage children under 10 with the health of their teeth, MyTeeth uses animated characters to help teach children how to properly brush their teeth. Along the way, kids can earn stickers as rewards and are shown proper technique. Timers can be set by parents for how long children should brush their teeth. They also make it fun by playing music during brushing time!

The app also provides parents with tips and techniques for helping their kids brush their teeth well and develop a positive relationship with their oral health.

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Brush DJ

Another app designed to make oral healthcare fun for children, Brush DJ is an award winning app that teaches proper brushing length to children. The app plays music from your child’s phone for 2 minutes, stopping when it’s time for them to stop brushing.

The app will also remind your children when to brush their teeth and floss, when it’s time for a new toothbrush, and lets them know when their dental appointment is coming up.

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Colgate Connect and Philips Sonicare apps

Used in conjunction with a Colgate or Philips Sonicare smart electric toothbrushes, these dental apps provide you with real-time data on how effectively you are brushing your teeth.

The app provides you with insights into your brushing routine, progress reports on how well you are covering your teeth, and the ability to control the vibration level and frequency of your brush.

This is a great app for keeping your patients engaged with their oral health even when they’re out of the office, and giving them a reason to get excited about technology in dentistry.  

Learn More About Colgate Connect

Learn More About Philips Sonicare

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