Beyond the Hype: How to Choose Dental Management Software

Lately, dental software options in the Philippines keep on multiplying. You as the customer have plenty of options to choose from—but how do you find what fits your needs best?

Identify what you require

Every software in the market has their strengths and weaknesses. You can start by listing down what you're looking for.

1. Do you want to simply transition to paperless patient records or do you need more than that?
2. Do you prefer a custom build you pay for once or a subscription?
3. How many staff will use the app at the same time?
4. Will the software work on desktop, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones?
5. Will the software work offline?

Is it easy to use?

Found a software with your expected features? Good. We recommend you check whether it's actually easy to use next.

You and your staff will use these features, big or small, every single day. The software is meant to assist you in your tasks but it could easily add more workload than lessen it. Remember that the ideal software is going to simplify your daily operations.

1. Does it complete the task in a few steps?
2. Does it require manually inputting the same data again and again?
3. Does it have a steep learning curve before you get used to it?
4. Is it the same experience on mobile or touch devices?

This matters even more with AI-built software. Good user experience doesn't come cheap. It takes real work to keep it simple.

Is your patient data secure?

1. Does the company protect your patient data and back it up securely?
2. Does the company comply with the Data Privacy Act of 2012?
3. What happens if data gets lost? Has this happened to them before?

Philippine law requires you to keep patient records for 10 years.

1. Can you extract your patient data whenever you need it?
2. Can you access your data even after canceling?
3. Will a missed payment immediately lock you out?

Since AI isn't fully regulated yet, we'd steer you away from AI-first companies. Many train on your data to offer cheaper pricing. That's a real privacy risk, specially in healthcare.

Is the company established?

We hear this a lot: ”What happens to us if you shut down?” Fair question. Sadly, you never know which startups stick around and which ones have to close down.

What you can trust is hard numbers. They show which companies have real staying power.

1. How long has the company been around?
2. How many clinics do they serve now?
3. Do dentists you know or trust use or recommend their software?
4. Do real dentists (not anonymous accounts) back them in Facebook groups and dental forums?

That said, it is still totally fine to opt for the new ones. Newer companies deserve a fair shot. Molarsoft started out too. We're grateful for customers who believed in us when we didn't have all the features yet. What worked for us was being honest: no overselling and no lies.

How does after sales work?

Always ask how to reach support after successfully purchasing or subscribing.

1. Can you reach support whenever you have problems?
2. Can you share feedback and suggestions?
3. How fast do they respond?
4. Will you talk to a real person or AI?

I ran into an AI support agent recently from a company I used to like. What it did was tell me to use the browser instead of their app when:

1. I was on a browser already
2. The company does not have a separate app

Polite as it was, the overall experience was frustrating. What can I do next? I hit a dead end with no way to reach a real person who could actually understand my problem.

How does the company handle competition?

Some of the new dental software companies market by trash-talking rivals. Instead of standing by their own software, they chose to spread lies to edge out the competition. I am learning that our filipino toxic trait of crab mentality (pulling others down to lift yourself up) shows up in business too. I find it to be immature.

We believe that competition is good. It pushes everyone to get better. When we started, features customers asked us for eventually showed up in our competitors' products too. Our competitors' overall aesthetic (UI/UX) improved over time too.

We all keep striving to build better software. A win for the customers (you).

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We actually recommend prospective customers to check out our competitors too. We're confident in what we've built, and we know the right dentists will choose us.

Questions? Ideas? Tell us what you think.

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