Discover three Dentrix Reports you can use to mine for gold–unscheduled patient treatment hiding in your Dentrix database.
Updated 10/29/21
When I worked in a dental practice, we still had paper charts until 2009 when I helped my practice transition to a paperless environment. We had a ton of treatment sitting in those paper charts that we had to search for manually in order to find patients who were unscheduled. It was an extremely time-consuming process that we had to do to keep our doctor’s schedule full.
When you are working in a chartless environment and all your treatment plans are in the computer, you still must follow up with patients who are not scheduled, but the process is much more streamlined. What I love about computer data is that it is all trackable, and you can filter it into a report. I call it “mining for gold.”
In Dentrix, there are three different reports you can use to track unscheduled treatment to follow up with those patients. I do have a favorite, but you can decide which one works best in your practice.
Unscheduled Treatment Plan Report
The Unscheduled Treatment Plan Report has been in Dentrix for years, and it is what I used back in the olden days. This report gives you information on unscheduled treatment, but you have to print it in order to work it, and it can be very lengthy. Also, you have to remember that every time you print a report, the information becomes quickly outdated, so your printed report is soon obsolete.
To run this report, in the Office Manager, from the Reports menu, point to Lists, and then click Unscheduled Treatment Plans. In the Unscheduled Treatment Plans dialog box, select the report options you want, and then click OK. The report appears in your batch processor and shows patients with unscheduled treatment plans, sorted by last name.
Practice Treatment Case Report
The Practice Treatment Case Report is also a printed report, but you can filter it by very specific data criteria that you cannot find in other reports. What I like about this report is that you can search for treatment that has been accepted, rejected, or proposed (if you are marking your cases with these statuses). This is good information for your doctor to see. In this report, you can also search by the case severity (if you are using the stop light icons to designate severity).
To run this report, from the Treatment Planner, click the Print button as if you were printing a treatment plan estimate, and then click Practice Treatment Case Report. In the Practice Treatment Case Report dialog box, select the report options you want. If you select Print Preview in the bottom right corner, you’ll be able to preview the report before you print it. When finished, click OK.
Treatment Manager Report
This is by far my favorite report in Dentrix. It offers you a way to search for patients with unscheduled treatment and create your own interactive spreadsheet where you can sort the data by columns to organize the report information any way you want. You also do not have to print this report because everything you need to follow up with the patient remains at your fingertips in the Treatment Manager.
To run this report, in the Appointment Book, from the Options menu, click Treatment Manager. In the Treatment Manager View dialog box, select the report options you want. When finished, click OK. The treatment plan information you specified appears in the Dentrix Treatment Manager. “Mining for gold” is my motto when it comes to looking for patients with unscheduled treatment. You need to be proactive when it comes to following up with patients. You cannot expect them to pick up the phone and call you. Keeping your schedule full is something that requires a little bit of work from you, but these report options make it much easier.
Learn More
To learn more about the Dentrix Treatment Manager, read Finding Patients with Urgent Treatment Needs or see the Treatment Manager Overview topic in the Dentrix Help.
By Dayna Johnson, Certified Dentrix Trainer
Dayna loves her work. She has over 25 years of experience in the dental industry, and she’s passionate about building efficient, consistent, and secure practice management systems. Dayna knows that your entire day revolves around your practice management software—the better you learn to use it, the more productive and stress-free your office will be. In 2016, Dayna founded Novonee ™, The Premier Dentrix Community, to help cultivate Dentrix super-users all over the country. Learn more from Dayna at www.novonee.com and contact Dayna at [email protected].
