I recently took a CE course from Dr. Larry Emmott, who is regarded as the guru of high technology in dentistry. I was amazed to find that half of the offices attending the course did not use digital x-rays, did not have computers in the treatment rooms, and did not have a website. We have been using all these things for over ten years and it got me thinking about how, after being in place for a little while, technology sort of disappears into the infrastructure and gets taken for granted. For example, it's not obvious to our patients that computers in the treatment room mean that all their records are accessible from anywhere in the office without having to find a paper chart. Once an entry is made in a chart from anywhere in the office, it is accessible for front desk check-out, submission to insurance, for review by doctors, hygienists and assistants. Nothing gets lost. Nothing gets misfiled. We never find unidentifiable x-ray films on the floor because they have fallen out of someone's chart. (There are no films because the x-rays are digital.) Chances of a bad treatment outcome due to lack of information or, even worse, incorrect information are reduced dramatically.
When we moved into our present office over ten years ago, I remember how I almost choked on the amount of money needed to purchase and install the high tech systems. This course reminded me of what it used to be like in the olden days before we had them. Now I cannot imagine working without them.
