For the dentists: I get many questions regarding what software we use.  I looked at practice management software, and chose Dentech.  The unix-based program does NOT present a problem in our office.  In fact, it rarely crashes. 

Dental Office Software:

• Dentech: Practice Management Software.  Do you know I haven't written a clinical note since 1993?  They are all typed by myself or the staff, and saved on the hard drive!  I can review these notes from anywhere in the world.
• Apteryx XRAY VISION is our radiographic, scanning, and photo database.
• Denchart: Dentech's windows-based charting program, which also uses voice integration to enter a patient's dental condition.
• Dentvisor: This software (based on the work of Dr John Kois) is used to enter a patient's medical and dental history online, and to risk assess their dental health.

Customization:  I must give credit where credit is due.  I wrote all the macros and scripts, but not without the help of Compuserve's Excel, Word, and SCO forums!

UNIX: These are variation on a theme.   Dentech has a program which automagically generates certain reports.  I'm using the power of unix 'cron' to automate tasks.  These commands run nightly, and will automatically forward copies of reports generated from Dentech via email, to my notebook computer.  I use "Outlook2010" for internet and intranet email, and don't have to remember to hunt around the dental system when reports are generated.   They just appear in the Inbox!

I also cover for several colleagues when they're out of the office.  Several also have unix-based software, and we're able to email the progress notes for patients I may treat while they're gone.  Our office doesn't have to print and fax a copy of the progress notes; we send it electronically.

Windows: This batch file runs nightly on a Windows7 box, and moves all the pictures we capture from our workstations to a Unix server.   These files (along with the dental software) then get backed up nightly onto a 24gig DDS3 tape. 

BACKUPS:  Data is backed up to

    - a NAS storage device

    - tape (for the unix server)

    - eSATA drive, hot-swappable, and removed from the office.