Is your practice drowning in paperwork?
Juggling scattered patient files and deciphering messy handwriting wastes valuable time that you could spend with your patients, leading to frustrating administrative overload.
These daily inefficiencies often lead to costly charting errors and put your practice at risk of non-compliance, creating more stress for your team.
On top of that, rising operational costs are squeezing your profit margins. Every minute wasted on inefficient administrative tasks is money lost from your practice.
But the right software can eliminate these headaches completely. It helps by streamlining your entire charting process, saving you both time and money.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the best dental charting software to simplify your practice in 2025. We’ll explore the top tools I’ve found.
You’ll discover solutions that reduce errors, improve patient data accuracy, and free up your team to focus on providing excellent patient care.
Let’s dive in.
Quick Summary:
| # | Software | Rating | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Curve Dental → | Practices of all sizes | |
| 2 | Dentrix → | Large multi-location teams | |
| 3 | Open Dental → | Customizable medium practices | |
| 4 | MacPractice → | Small to medium practices | |
| 5 | Planet DDS → | Multi-location dental practices |
1. Curve Dental
Tired of scattered patient data and manual record-keeping?
Curve Dental offers comprehensive charting and scheduling features, centralizing your patient information for efficiency. This means you can say goodbye to administrative overload.
With their digital forms and imaging capabilities, you can streamline patient intake and clinical documentation significantly, freeing up valuable staff time.
Here’s how Curve Dental revolutionizes your practice.
Curve Dental helps you achieve higher collections and increased patient flow. Their integrated billing, patient engagement and smart forms automate crucial processes.
You’ll discover capabilities like 24/7 self-scheduling and automated reminders that reduce no-shows, keeping your schedule consistently full. Additionally, built-in cloud-based imaging and ePrescribe enhance patient care, making daily operations smoother. Plus, with customizable dashboards and reports, you get actionable insights instantly, enabling data-driven decisions for your practice.
This elevates the patient experience and your profitability.
While we’re discussing improving practice efficiency, you might also be interested in my guide on best patient scheduling software for managing appointments.
Key features:
- Comprehensive Charting & Imaging: Capture, store, and manipulate images, alongside detailed charting and perio charting for accurate, accessible patient records.
- Automated Scheduling & Patient Engagement: Utilize 24/7 self-scheduling, automated reminders, and SmartFill to reduce no-shows and keep your schedule optimized.
- Streamlined Billing & Reporting: Benefit from faster payments through customizable invoices, integrated payment solutions, and one-click access to actionable business analytics and reports.
Curve Dental features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Curve Dental offers a comprehensive, cloud-based solution that stands out as the best dental charting software for practices of all sizes. It boosts efficiency with features like 3.5x faster charting and helps increase new patient revenue, making it a powerful tool for streamlining your operations and growth.
2. Dentrix
Is administrative overload impacting your dental practice?
Dentrix integrates your practice technology into one management system, unifying workflows for smarter team operations.
This means you can simplify business management and focus on your patients, rather than scattered data or cumbersome manual processes. The result?
You gain the freedom to focus on dentistry.
Dentrix offers superior front office, clinical, and business management tools. You can improve staff productivity, expand clinical efficiencies, and streamline your office workflow. For instance, Dentrix Smart Image connects your clinical and financial processes into one efficient workflow for quality care. This includes tools for billing and collections, integrated services, and powerful practice marketing to help you grow.
You can truly run a stronger practice.
While we’re discussing business management, understanding how to make smart choices with MR reporting software can be equally beneficial for any business.
Key features:
- Integrated practice management: Connects all your dental technology into one system, streamlining front office, clinical, and business management operations for enhanced efficiency.
- Streamlined clinical and financial workflows: Dentrix Smart Image integrates your clinical processes with financial aspects, helping improve staff productivity and overall office workflow for quality patient care.
- Comprehensive business and patient growth tools: Provides tools for billing, collections, and robust practice marketing, allowing you to effectively manage your business and grow your patient base.
Dentrix features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Dentrix excels in providing an integrated management system that addresses key pain points for dental professionals, making it an excellent candidate for the best dental charting software. Its comprehensive tools for business management, clinical efficiency, and patient growth are why 35,000 teams trust Dentrix to run stronger practices.
3. Open Dental
Struggling with administrative overload in your dental practice?
Open Dental offers comprehensive practice management software to streamline your operations, addressing common pain points like scattered patient data and scheduling inefficiencies. This means you can centralize patient information and reduce administrative burden significantly.
Here’s how Open Dental simplifies workflows.
You can boost efficiency with integrated eServices. Open Dental provides a patient portal, payment portal, and web forms, making patient engagement and administrative tasks more manageable. This improves patient satisfaction and reduces no-shows by automating communication through integrated texting and automated messaging. Additionally, the software features a graphical tooth chart that shows patient dentition and treatment over time, ensuring accurate charting and historical data. Plus, you get interoperability with hundreds of program bridges, over 20 clearinghouses, and native payment integrations, enabling seamless data flow across your existing systems.
The result is a more efficient, compliant, and profitable practice.
Key features:
- Comprehensive practice management provides a graphical tooth chart, built-in reports, and user queries for detailed insights and streamlined patient data management.
- Integrated eServices bundle includes a patient portal, web forms, and automated messaging to boost efficiency and enhance patient communication and scheduling.
- Extensive interoperability options with hundreds of program bridges, clearinghouses, and native payment integrations ensure seamless data exchange across your dental software ecosystem.
Open Dental features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Open Dental offers a robust and customizable solution for dental practices seeking to simplify operations. Its comprehensive feature set, including eServices and interoperability, makes it a strong contender for the best dental charting software, helping you streamline administrative workflows and improve patient satisfaction by reducing errors and complexities.
4. MacPractice
Tired of manual charting headaches? There’s a better way!
MacPractice simplifies your dental practice operations with features like patient management, scheduling, and ledger tracking. This means you can reduce administrative overload and focus more on patient care.
The software addresses your challenges by centralizing patient data, ensuring that all information is stored locally and within your control, streamlining your daily workflow.
Say goodbye to scattered data.
MacPractice solves the problem of inefficient patient management by offering powerful scheduling solutions and patient reminder services, helping you keep up with patient intake effortlessly. You also get robust dental and perio charting, supporting various digital radiography devices to streamline your entire workflow. Plus, with secure web access via MacPractice Go, you can view schedules, make appointments, and forward charges from anywhere, enhancing flexibility and responsiveness.
Additionally, tools like time clock functionality, inventory tracking, and comprehensive reporting help office managers monitor practice health.
Your data is always at your fingertips.
While we’re discussing practice operations, understanding accounting practice management software is equally important for financial health.
Key features:
- Comprehensive practice management including patient management, scheduling, ledger tracking, and reporting, all designed to centralize and control your practice data.
- Advanced dental charting offers powerful and flexible restorative, perio, and radiography charting solutions with customizable shortcuts and integrated digital radiography device support.
- Paperless workflow and mobile access through iPad apps for electronic forms and patient check-ins, plus MacPractice Go for secure web access to your data from any browser.
MacPractice features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: MacPractice stands out as a strong contender for the best dental charting software by streamlining patient management, scheduling, and billing. Its comprehensive features, including robust charting and mobile access, help reduce administrative burden and improve overall practice efficiency for small to medium-sized dental and medical practices.
5. Planet DDS
Is administrative overload weighing down your dental practice?
Planet DDS delivers cloud-based practice management and orthodontic systems, Denticon and Cloud 9, centralizing your daily operations. This means you can simplify payments, reduce outstanding balances, and streamline compliance across multiple locations.
You’ll discover that these solutions empower your team to achieve greater efficiency, minimizing manual effort across your organization.
Here’s how to boost your practice.
Planet DDS solves your problems by providing a unified DentalOS™ that helps improve efficiency and increase revenue. You get faster bookings, simple insurance billing, and inter-clinic access to records.
With their Apteryx cloud imaging solution, you can store, view, and optimize x-ray images anytime, anywhere, offering a device-agnostic 2D/3D dental imaging solution with AI capabilities. Additionally, Planet DDS Pay simplifies transactions for Denticon and Cloud 9 users.
This comprehensive approach improves efficiency for your front desk, hygienists, and dentists, reducing your overall costs by consolidating systems into a predictable monthly subscription, with customers saving an average of 40% in total cost of ownership.
The result is a more secure, scalable operation.
While optimizing your practice operations, remember that effective marketing analytics tools can provide crucial insights for growth.
Key features:
- Cloud-based Practice Management: Denticon and Cloud 9 consolidate your operations, offering multi-location access and streamlining administrative tasks, from scheduling to patient record management.
- Integrated Cloud Imaging: Apteryx provides device-agnostic 2D/3D dental imaging with AI, allowing you to store, view, and optimize x-ray images remotely, anytime, anywhere.
- Simplified Integrated Payments: Planet DDS Pay, integrated with Denticon and Cloud 9, simplifies payment processing, helps reduce outstanding balances, and streamlines compliance across your practice.
Planet DDS features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Planet DDS delivers comprehensive cloud-based solutions making it the best dental charting software for practices seeking to streamline operations, reduce costs by up to 40%, and enhance security. Its unified platform and integrated features, including AI-powered imaging, empower your team for growth and improved patient experience.
6. tab32
Tired of fragmented dental practice management?
tab32 unifies your entire workflow, managing your dental group as one cohesive unit.
This means you can bring all your team’s work into a single platform.
It’s time to gain true transparency.
tab32 helps you say goodbye to the black box of scattered data, enabling enhanced patient interactions and streamlined operations. This results in standardized workflows and improved productivity across all your practices.
The cloud-based system optimizes billing and claims processes, leading to increased cash flow and operational efficiency. Additionally, it unifies radiology with AI for smarter insights and provides real-time analytics to drive profitable decisions, ensuring compliance and robust security.
Your practice deserves unified insights.
Speaking of streamlining care, my article on best e prescribing software covers how to reduce errors.
Key features:
- All-in-one dental practice management for DSOs, unifying workflows and delivering comprehensive visibility into your entire enterprise from anywhere.
- Optimized billing and claims capabilities increase collection rates with accurate billing and automated reconciliation, streamlining revenue and payment processes.
- Unify radiology with AI for advanced insights and secure, cloud-based dental imaging, ensuring data security and compliant cloud migration.
tab32 features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: If you’re seeking the best dental charting software to consolidate fragmented systems, streamline administrative overload, and boost financial performance across multiple locations, tab32 is an excellent choice. It offers real-time analytics, optimized billing, and unified radiology with AI, all contributing to improved patient experience and significant revenue growth.
7. CareStack
Tired of juggling multiple dental software systems?
CareStack simplifies your work and life with an all-in-one, cloud-based platform for dental practice management. This means you can consolidate systems, eliminating the hassle of numerous add-ons and fragmented data.
It addresses administrative overload and scattered patient data by offering a unified solution, helping you streamline daily operations and improve efficiency.
Here’s how CareStack helps.
CareStack centralizes your practice operations, from patient management to billing. It offers features like online appointments, integrated payments, and text reminders to engage patients and boost collections.
You’ll find comprehensive tools such as general and periodontal clinical charting, digital imaging integrations, and electronic prescriptions. Plus, it ensures HIPAA compliance and always-on backups, providing secure remote access for your team.
Additionally, CareStack provides robust reporting and analytics, allowing you to gain real-time insights into clinical, financial, and administrative performance. This helps you make intelligent decisions to drive efficiency, increase profitability, and elevate patient care and relationships, ultimately boosting revenue and reducing errors.
The result? Simplified operations and increased profitability.
Before diving deeper, you might find my analysis of best course management system helpful for managing educational programs.
Key features:
- Comprehensive Charting & Notes: Provides general and periodontal clinical charting, alongside clinical notes with templates and e-signatures for streamlined record-keeping.
- Patient Engagement & Payments: Includes built-in appointment reminders, two-way patient texting, online self-service scheduling, and integrated payment solutions like Pay-By-Text.
- Operational Efficiency & Analytics: Offers powerful multi-location scheduling, electronic eligibility verification, centralized claims management, and configurable reports and dashboards for real-time insights.
CareStack features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: CareStack is designed to be the best dental charting software for practices seeking to simplify operations and boost growth. Its integrated features, from comprehensive charting to advanced payment solutions and robust analytics, directly address administrative pain points, leading to increased collections, new patients, and overall practice efficiency.
Conclusion
Let’s end your charting chaos.
Choosing the right software can feel overwhelming. The wrong tool only adds more administrative headaches instead of actually solving the charting inefficiencies plaguing your practice.
The right software does more than just chart. A report from onDiem found that practices see a 22% reduction in overtime through better scheduling. This frees up valuable staff time, reduces burnout, and boosts your bottom line.
So, what’s my top recommendation?
After reviewing all these tools, Curve Dental is my top pick. It directly tackles administrative overload with a truly intuitive, all-in-one cloud platform.
I was most impressed by its promise of 3.5x faster charting. The best dental charting software must give your team back precious time, and Curve Dental truly delivers.
While your dental practice aims for efficiency, also consider your marketing efforts. My guide on maximizing your ad spend efficiency is a useful resource.
I highly recommend you book a free demo of Curve Dental to see how these streamlined workflows can directly benefit your own practice’s efficiency.
Your practice deserves that simplicity.
