The Benefits Of Digital Records at the Dental Office

In the past, physical paper records were what dental offices would use to keep track of their patients.  Over the years, these reports might become difficult to read – or worse, might become lost in a sea of other papers.  Recently, some offices have begun to adopt a digital solution to this problem, by moving all of their information onto a computer, online.  This saves time and money – and makes the records less prone to loss.

With paper records, there is always the danger that human error will produce a problem.  What if someone misplaces a record?  What if someone accidentally destroys a record?  You can never be too careful, especially when it comes to someone’s health and well being.  To combat this issue, why not convert all patient records into a digital format.  This way, they can be preserved for a much longer period of time.

In addition, a lot of the guess work can be removed that previously existed with physically written records.  Suppose one dentist has a problem reading another dentist’s handwriting.  You never want to guess with this sort of thing, considering a misdiagnosis might result in injury to the patient.  With 100% digital records though, this shouldn’t be a problem.  Plus, certain algorithms can be created to automatically produce warning messages, alerting dentists and receptionists of important information.  Should a patient have an allergic reaction to a certain medication, it is of the utmost importance that everyone involved is aware.

Digital records are going to make the process of going to the dentist a lot easier in the future.  Every record, every piece of communication, every visit can be recorded and saved in a patient’s file, where it will sit, unaltered, until their next visit.