Sector
IT support for dental practices, where a system outage empties the chair
A dental practice is one of the few small businesses where an IT failure has an immediate, calculable cost. If the practice management system is down, you cannot see the day’s list, access notes or charge treatment, and every surgery sitting idle has a known hourly value.
The software a practice runs
Most practices run a practice management system, SOE Exact, Dentally, Carestream R4 or Systems for Dentists are the common ones: together with digital imaging, an intraoral or OPG sensor with its own capture software, NHS claim submission where relevant, and business email across the admin side.
The imaging half is the part general IT providers most often underestimate. Sensors and capture software have specific driver, workstation and calibration requirements, they are frequently tied to a particular machine, and a surgery PC being replaced without planning for that is a very expensive afternoon. Imaging workstations get documented and imaged before anybody touches them.
Where the practice management system is still server-based, that server is genuinely critical infrastructure and should be treated as such: monitored, patched carefully, backed up locally and offsite, and with restores tested rather than assumed.
That falls squarely under server support and business backups.
Compliance and patient data
Dental practices sit under both CQC registration and, for NHS work, the Data Security and Protection Toolkit. The technology-dependent parts are consistent with other clinical settings: access control per clinician rather than shared logins, retention that matches clinical record requirements, demonstrable backup restores, and an incident process that exists before you need it.
Image data deserves specific attention because of its volume and its retention period. Radiographs form part of the clinical record and have to survive for as long as the record does, which is considerably longer than most backup arrangements are designed for. That is worth checking rather than assuming.
What an hour of downtime costs
It is one of the few sectors where the number is easy. Take the hourly value of a surgery, multiply by the number of surgeries, and that is the cost of the practice management system being unavailable, before you count the reception time spent rebooking and the patients who do not come back.
That arithmetic is why we include on-site visits rather than charging for them here. A practice that hesitates over a call-out charge is a practice that runs a surgery on workarounds, and the workaround costs more than the visit within about twenty minutes.
The practical jobs that come up most
Beyond the practice management system, the recurring work in a dental practice is fairly consistent and worth planning for rather than reacting to.
Surgery workstations that need replacing without breaking the imaging chain, which means documenting and imaging the machine, confirming sensor driver compatibility, and having the vendor available on the day rather than three days later.
Reception machines that are shared by several people across a day, where individual accounts and fast sign-in matter more than they do at a fixed desk.
Backup of image data specifically, because it is the largest and longest-retained part of the record and it is the part most likely to have quietly outgrown whatever arrangement was set up when the practice went digital.
And connectivity, which for a practice running cloud practice management is now as critical as the electricity. A failover connection is a small monthly cost against a day of empty surgeries, and it is worth pricing rather than assuming.
Get in touch
Tell us how your dental practices business runs
A few lines is enough. We will tell you straight whether we can help, what it would cost and how quickly we can be there. No hard sell, and no follow-up sequence if you decide against it.
- We reply within one working day
- A straight answer, including when it is no
- Free process review available, before any money changes hands
Would rather just ring? 01623 354250, Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm.
Questions we get from dental practices
If the answer is not here, ask us. You will get a straight one, from someone who does the work.
Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm
Do you support SOE Exact, Dentally, R4 and Systems for Dentists?
We support the servers, workstations, network and accounts those systems run on, and we work directly with the vendor when the fault is inside the application. You should not be relaying messages between two suppliers while a surgery sits idle.
Can you work with our imaging sensors and capture software?
Yes, and carefully. Sensors and capture software have specific driver and workstation requirements and are often tied to a particular machine, so imaging workstations get documented and imaged before anybody replaces or rebuilds them.
How long do we need to keep radiographs?
They form part of the clinical record and must be retained for as long as the record itself, which is considerably longer than most backup arrangements are designed around. It is worth checking rather than assuming, and it is one of the first things we look at.
Can you help with the Data Security and Protection Toolkit?
Yes, access control, training records, incident handling and demonstrable backup restores are the areas practices most often struggle to evidence, and we gather that evidence through the year rather than in a scramble at submission time.
How quickly can you get to a practice with a system down?
Same working day inside the coverage area, and prioritised ahead of routine work because a stopped practice is a trade-stopping fault. Remote diagnosis usually starts within the hour.
Do you charge extra to come out?
Not on the Support and Complete plans within the coverage area. Given that an idle surgery has a known hourly cost, a call-out charge is precisely the wrong incentive to put in front of a practice manager.