COVID-19 Update for Open Dental Customers

Updated 06/01/2020

We will continue to update this page as needed and as questions are asked.

The ADA came out with a screening form for patients. Is this form available in Open Dental?

Yes. The COVID-19 Patient Screening Form is available in Versions 19.4.40 and 20.1.18 and greater. For instructions and recommended work flow, see Dental Patient Screening Form.

Customer support wait times seem longer than usual

We are committed to very quick response times if you are down or have an urgent issue. Our average response time is about 90 seconds in this case. For normal support calls, it is often much longer. Here is why:

• New Customer Growth
• Hiring and Training new employees
• Higher Call Volume

I have included some more details below for the curious.

New Customer Growth:
We have had more new customers in May, 2020 than any month in our history, by about 67%. That means that if you take our highest month of growth ever, you would need to increase it by 2/3 to match the May, 2020 growth. We have always had high growth, but it requires a constant supply of well trained staff, and that was interrupted in March, 2020.

Hiring and Training:
Most of our customers stayed on support during the shutdown, and this significantly improved our ability to have support available as offices return to seeing patients post-shutdown. In March, 2020 we had about 250 employees, but a significant portion of them have not been able to return to work for a variety of reasons. We have been actively hiring since April, but finding the right employees and training them takes time. We are conducting complex interviews with 24 in-person candidates per day, outside in large tents.

Higher call volume
Our customers are calling us as they start to see more patients, and we love this, but it can lead to higher wait times until we can adjust our staffing. We expect continued higher call volume as we release some new features into July that are going to have high demand as they are matched to new COVID related practice needs.

Regards,
Nathan Sparks
Open Dental CEO May 28, 2020

Is online training available?

Yes, Online Training is available and can be scheduled as normal.

Is on-site training available?

Yes, we are starting to do on-site customer training again with availability determined case-by-case as only some of our trainers are currently able to travel. We are happy to look into this option for your office, please give us a call if you are interested.

If I cancel my eService Bundle, will the price increase when I re-enable it?

No. If you cancelled your eService bundle for any reason and are re-enabling it, you will get the rate you were at before, as opposed to the possibly higher current rate. This will be true from April 2020 to December 2020.

How do I set up Teledentistry in Open Dental?

See our blog post: Teledentistry and Open Dental

Where can I record patient temperature?

If you are screening patients before you begin treatment, it is recommended to add temperature to the Appointment Field Defs. See Screening Patient Temperature for setup instructions.

Other resources that may help

• Visit the ADA Coronavirus Center for Dentists for updated ADA COVID-19 Coding and Billing Guidance, information on Small Business Interruption Loans, and much more.


• If you employ less than 500 people, your employees may qualify for benefits through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act which provides paid leave related to COVID-19 illness, quarantine, or childcare issues as a result of the pandemic. This can help you retain trusted, talented staff while keeping them safe, and allowing them to care for their families while they receive all or part of their regular pay. This includes provisions to help you as the employer with payroll tax relief and 100% reimbursement for paid staff leave and health insurance costs.


• The Small Business Administration has created a page with information and resources related to the recently signed CARES Act. Click here for the Small Business Owner's Guide.

- Older Questions -

Is your support center staying open?

Yes. Our staff remain committed and available to support you. See our Contact page for our current hours of operation.

If there are disruptions to our staffing due to illness or quarantine, we will adjust our support structure to best fit the staff and customer demand we have.

What is Open Dental doing to help offices during this time?

Your office may reduce or defer your monthly payments during this time. Please call us to make arrangements, we cannot process account changes over email.

What to expect:

• Monthly support charges will continue to accrue on your account
• Any pre-authorized reduced monthly payment will post on your normal bill cycle day
• A monthly statement will be sent to your e-mail address on file
• Support services will continue, as well as your full access to Open Dental features
• Accounts will be re-evaluated on June 15th, 2020; this date is subject to change as we monitor further developments of COVID-19 and its impact
• When this period ends, Open Dental will contact you to offer a payment plan

What to do when you receive your bill:

• Payments are not required during the duration of this agreement; however, partial payments are encouraged so that your account can be brought current more easily.
• If you've arranged an automated monthly partial payment, please be sure to keep a record of your statement.