Patients — Dentora user guide

The patients list

Open Patients from the sidebar, or from the bottom bar on a phone. Every file of the clinic is here: each patient has a row with the file number, name, gender, age and treating doctor, then the phone with call and WhatsApp buttons, medical alerts, last visit, balance and tags. On a phone each patient is a card with name, file number, gender, age, balance, phone and medical alerts.

Three cards sit above the list: Total patients, New this month and With a balance due. Click New this month or With a balance due to show only those patients; click the same card again, or Total patients, to see everyone.

Click any row to open the patient’s file.

The patients list: figure cards at the top, then search and filters, then the table of patients

Adding a new patient

A name is all a new file needs; you can fill in the rest at any time later.

Click New patient at the top of the Patients page (on a phone, the floating button at the bottom of the screen), pick it from the New button in the top bar on a computer, or press Ctrl+Shift+N on any screen.
Type the Full name, the only required field.
Choose the Gender (Male is picked by default, so change it for a female patient) and enter the Date of birth; the age appears right under it.
Enter the Phone. It is optional, but without it the patient cannot get WhatsApp appointment reminders. A second number goes in Other phone.
Fill in whatever else you have: Patient photo, Email, Treating doctor, Address, National ID and Occupation, then Medical status and Additional information further down (tags, insurance, referral and notes).
Click Save patient. Dentora gives the patient the next file number and opens the new file.

The new patient form with a name, date of birth and age, and a notice that the phone number belongs to another patient — A name is enough to save, and the duplicate-number notice does not stop you.

Medical status and the medical alert

Record the patient’s allergies, chronic diseases and medications once, and everyone who opens the file sees them before any procedure.

Open the patient’s file and click Edit, or fill in this section while adding the patient.
Under Medical status, type an allergy in Allergies and press Enter or a comma, or click a ready suggestion such as Penicillin or Latex.
Add Chronic diseases and Current medications the same way, and choose the Blood type if you know it.
Use Medical notes for anything else the dentist must know before treatment.
Click Save changes.

The medical status section of the patient form: blood type, allergies, chronic diseases and medications with ready suggestions

The top of a patient file with the red medical alert bar: allergies, chronic diseases and medications

Search, filter and sort

However many files the clinic has, search and filters bring you to the patient in seconds.

Type part of a name, a phone number (first or other), a file number, a national ID or an email in the search box. The list updates as you type.
Narrow it by gender (All, Male or Female), by treating doctor (All doctors) and by tag (All tags).
Pick the order from the last button: Recently added, Name (A–Z), Last visit or Highest balance.
The number of results shows above the table; click Clear filters to see everyone again.

Searching for “Mais” with the female filter, and the result count with Clear filters above the table

The Filter & sort window on a phone: gender, doctor, tags, order and show archived files

The patient file

The patient file brings everything about the patient together. The top shows the photo, name, file number, age, date of birth, blood type, treating doctor, phones, email, address and tags.

Open the file by clicking the patient’s row in the list, or find the patient from the top bar.
Read the four figures under the name: Balance due, Next appointment, Last visit and Completed treatments with the number still to do. Click the balance, the appointment or the treatments to jump to their tab.
Use the buttons: Edit to change details (on a phone Edit is a pencil icon only), Appointment to book a visit, Payment to record money received, and the three dots (⋯) to Archive the file or Delete patient.
Move between the tabs. Overview shows the medical information, contact and insurance, notes, Upcoming appointments with a Book appointment button, and Recent activity on the file with who did what and when.

Files, images and clinical notes

Keep X-rays, clinical photos, documents and signed consents in the patient’s file, and write notes after each session for the next visit.

Open the Files & notes tab of the patient’s file.
Click Upload file and choose an image or a PDF. On a computer you can also drag the file onto the box under the files.
Choose the File type: X-ray, Photo, Document, Consent or Other. Dentora suggests one from the file name.
Rename it in File name if you like, add a Note describing the file (it shows under the thumbnail instead of the name), and the tooth in Tooth (optional) in FDI numbering, such as 36.
Click Save file.
For a clinical note, click New note, pick the date and the doctor, write what was done, then click Save or press Ctrl+Enter.

The Files & notes tab: an X-ray uploaded for tooth 36, the drop zone, and the clinical notes

The add-a-file window: file type, name, note and tooth number

Good to know

Click a file to see it large. Move between files with the arrows on screen or on the keyboard, change the type, tooth or note and click Save changes, or use Download and Delete. The buttons above the files filter them by type.
Files can be up to 25 MB, and only images and PDFs are accepted.
On Android, Upload file offers the phone’s camera next to your files, so you can photograph an X-ray film or the patient’s mouth directly.
On Windows a PDF opens inside the app. On Android a Download button appears instead, so you can open it in another app.
Files are stored on this device and are part of the backup; Dentora warns you before an upload if the device is short of space. See Backup.
Clinical notes are listed newest first with the doctor’s name. Doctors, assistants and admins write, edit and delete them; receptionists can only read them. Images and files can be uploaded and deleted by everyone on the team, receptionists included.

Archiving and deleting

When a patient stops coming, archive the file rather than delete it: it leaves the list and the figures, its account and payments stay in the reports, and you can restore it at any time.

Open the actions menu (⋮) at the end of the patient’s row, or the three dots (⋯) in the patient’s file.
Choose Archive.
To see archived files, click Archive above the list. On a phone, turn on Show archived files in the filter window.
To bring a file back, choose Restore from the same actions menu.

The archived files view with the actions menu open on Restore

The “This patient file can’t be deleted” message, because the patient has invoices and payments, with the Archive file button

Good to know

An archived file carries an Archived file badge next to the name, and you can still open and read it.
An archived file does not appear when you choose the patient in the appointment form, so do not add the patient again as new (that would make a second file): book from the Appointment button in the file, or restore it first. It still shows in quick search (Ctrl+K) with an Archived badge.
Only an admin can delete. Deleting removes the file for good with everything in it: appointments, treatment plans and treatments, dental chart, prescriptions, lab orders, images and files, clinical notes, draft invoices and its activity log; it cannot be undone.
A file with invoices or payments is never deleted, because that would change the revenue of days already closed. You see This patient file can’t be deleted with an Archive file button instead.
Make a backup before deleting anything. See Saving a backup.