Start with your clinic, not the software
Before any demo, write down how your clinic works today. How many doctors and chairs? How are doctors paid? How do patients pay? What goes wrong most often? The right system fixes your top three problems. Everything else is a bonus.
Test these in the demo
Ask the company to do each of these live, on the real system.
- A busy morning. Show the front desk with patients waiting, in the chair and ready to pay. Does it update on every screen by itself?
- A walk-in. How fast can reception find a free doctor and check the patient in?
- Tomorrow’s confirmations. How many taps per patient? Can it send WhatsApp messages in the patient’s language?
- Charting. Chart a three-surface filling and a crown on a phone. Count the taps.
- A treatment plan over three visits. Does unfinished work carry over by itself?
- Instalments. A patient pays a 20,000 treatment in four payments. Where is the balance? What does each payment cover?
- A doctor on percentage. Show the doctor’s monthly payout with a lab fee involved.
- The owner’s view. What does the clinic keep this month after all costs?
Ask about data and security
- Is each clinic’s data separated? In cloud systems, clinics share infrastructure. Ask how one clinic is stopped from ever seeing another clinic’s data.
- Who can see what? Can you hide salaries and payouts from reception? Is every change logged?
- Can you export everything? Your patient data must be yours, in a format you can use, at no extra charge.
Ask about setup and support
- Who imports your patients and balances? And how long does it take?
- Who trains your team? Training reception is different from training doctors.
- How do you reach support? WhatsApp, phone, e-mail? In Arabic? How fast?
Ask about the full price
- What will you pay over two years? Subscription, setup, data import, training, extra users, extra branches, add-ons such as a website or online booking, and price increases.
A simple scorecard
Score each system from 1 to 5 on each line, then multiply by the weight.
| Area | Weight | System A | System B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixes our top 3 problems | 5 | ||
| Speed for reception and assistants | 4 | ||
| Doctor payouts and lab fees | 4 | ||
| Data separation, roles and export | 4 | ||
| Setup, training and support | 3 | ||
| Works on phones and tablets | 3 | ||
| Full cost over two years | 3 |
Switching without losing patients
- Pick a quiet week to start, not the first week of the month.
- Import patients and open balances before day one.
- Book future appointments into the new system first. That is what reception needs on day one.
- Keep the old system read-only for a few months.
- Close the first month together with the company’s support team.
See OdenteQ with these questions
We welcome these questions in our demos. Book a demo and bring this list. If you are in Egypt, also read the best dental software in Egypt.
Questions
How long does it take to switch dental software?
With a good setup team, a clinic can start in days. The work is importing patients and balances, setting up doctors, treatments and prices, and training staff.
Should I choose the software with the most features?
No. Choose the one that fixes your clinic’s biggest problems and that your staff will actually use. Extra features you never use only slow the team down.
