SoftDent and PracticeWorks

What to ask for

Send this to the office. It is written for someone who works in SoftDent and PracticeWorks every day, so there is nothing for you to translate.

• CS Imaging: export the X-rays as DICOM (For Presentation, or a DICOMDIR folder), or PNG if DICOM cannot be read.
• SoftDent documents: e-mail them from the Documents window, or Print Document to a PDF printer. PracticeWorks: Save As each image in Attached Images, and ask how they retrieve files from Clipboard → Attachments.
• Perio: PracticeWorks prints the Soft tissue chart for a date range. SoftDent: ask the office how they print the perio chart; the vendor documents the numeric view but no perio print.
• Clinical notes and progress notes for all dates, printed to PDF, and the transaction or account history for the dated procedure codes.
• Lab reports: any scanned paperwork is with the documents. SoftDent’s Lab Case Report lists the cases; in PracticeWorks, ask.

Where it is in SoftDent and PracticeWorks

Each of these produces one part of the record. The office does not need to do all of them — only the ones you asked for above.

1. 1

   Images and X-rays (CS Imaging)

   Path

   Open the patient and launch CS Imaging (the patient’s name shows in its title bar). In the Patient Browser or Dashboard: Ctrl+click the images → the Export icon group → the folder (Save) icon → Save As window → Destination Folder → Image type: For Presentation, or BMP, JPEG, TIFF, PNG (Keep current format is a CS Imaging 8 format that only CS Imaging 8 can open) → optional Compress items → Save items. The whole set as DICOM: Ctrl+click the images → Export icon group → DICOMDIR icon → Destination Folder (it must be empty) → Export. By e-mail: Export icon group → e-mail icon → Send by e-mail items.

   Produces

   DICOM files (For Presentation, or the DICOMDIR folder set), or BMP, JPEG, TIFF or PNG images, which the vendor says "do not provide accurate measurement capability" and "should not be used for diagnostic purposes". Drawings and annotations are saved only with Keep current format, BMP, JPEG, TIFF and PNG. Dragging an image out to a folder gives a JPEG whose file name "includes the patient name and acquisition date".

   Choose

   For Presentation (DICOM), or the DICOMDIR export. PNG only for a recipient who cannot read DICOM. Never Keep current format.

   Carestream Dental help: Exporting images to a folder or an e-mail (CS Imaging)

2. 2

   Images outside CS Imaging (SoftDent Show Images)

   Path

   List → Patient → select the patient → Show Images on the Express bar → right-click the image → Export → Save As window → location, file name and file type → Save.

   Produces

   One image file per export; the vendor page says to select the file type without listing the choices. The name is whatever is typed.

   Choose

   Use this only for images that are not in CS Imaging. Pick PNG or TIFF if offered and name the file with the patient and the date.

   Carestream Dental help: Exporting an image (SoftDent)

3. 3

   Documents (SoftDent Documents window)

   Path

   List → Patient → select the patient → Documents in the Options section of the Express bar (or the Documents tab in the chart). E-mail: select the document → E-Mail (Options section) → SoftDent E-Mail window → recipient → add more items from the Documents and Images tree with Add → send (needs an external e-mail program; a 3D image cannot be sent). Print: select the document in the Documents section of the tree → Options → Print Document → printer → OK. Clinical images and portraits: right-click the image in its section → Print.

   Produces

   An e-mail with the documents attached (the attachment format is not stated), or a printout (a PDF via a PDF printer). No Export or Save As command for documents is documented. The raw files live in the folder set at System → Change System Settings → Video Capture Options → Image Storage Drive; that setting is disabled on SoftDent Cloud.

   Choose

   E-mail the originals to an inbox the office controls, then hand them over; otherwise Print Document to a PDF printer, one PDF per document, named with the patient and the date.

   Carestream Dental help: E-mailing documents (SoftDent)

4. 4

   Images and scanned pages (PracticeWorks Attached Images)

   Path

   Open the patient’s chart → Attached Images tab → right-click the image thumbnail → Save As ("Select the type of file you want to save: bitmap, TIFF, jpeg, and so forth"). The same right-click offers Export and Send via email; the e-mail attaches the files and fills in the practitioner name, patient name, file name and image date.

   Produces

   One image file per Save As, in the type chosen. Correspondence, medical history, insurance forms and consents are kept separately under Clipboard → Attachments; the vendor documents how to attach and find them, but no command to export or open the file.

   Choose

   TIFF for X-rays and scanned pages, JPEG for photos. Ask the office how they retrieve a file from Attachments.

   Carestream Dental help: Copying and saving an image (PracticeWorks)

5. 5

   Periodontal chart (PracticeWorks Soft tissue tab)

   Path

   Open the chart in the Charting module → Soft tissue tab → Print on the right side of the tab → Print soft tissue chart window → enter the date range → select the components to print → OK.

   Produces

   A printout of the soft tissue chart (pocket depths, recession, furcation, mobility, bleeding) for the visits in the range; a PDF only via a PDF printer. Each soft tissue entry also appears in Progress Notes as "Perio Exam". No export as data.

   Choose

   The full date range with the numeric components, not the graphic alone, printed to PDF.

   Carestream Dental help: Printing the soft tissue chart (PracticeWorks)

6. 6

   Clinical notes (SoftDent)

   Path

   List → Patient → select the patient → Chart → Clinical Notes → Review → Patient Notes by Date (or by Tooth) → Enter → select a note → Print → Enter Report Dates window → date range → Include Treatment Plan Notes if wanted → OK.

   Produces

   A printout of the notes in the date range; a PDF via a PDF printer.

   Choose

   Patient Notes by Date, the full range, with treatment plan notes included.

   Carestream Dental help: Printing a patient’s clinical notes from the chart (SoftDent)

7. 7

   Procedure history and treatment plan (SoftDent)

   Path

   Procedures: Patient List → select the patient → Transactions → Options (Express bar or menu) → Print Transactions ("Prints a list of patient transactions posted within a specific date range"). Treatment plan: Patient List → Options → Treatment Plan → Options → Print Treatment Plan → choose the plan and groups → OK → Output Options → OK.

   Produces

   A printout of the transactions in the date range, and of the treatment plan. The Output Options choices are not enumerated by the vendor; a PDF printer gives a PDF.

   Carestream Dental help: Patient transactions list (SoftDent)

8. 8

   Progress notes, account history and hard tissue chart (PracticeWorks)

   Path

   Progress notes: open the chart → Prog Notes tab → Print → Print progress notes window → all entries for a range of dates → tick the entry types under Entries to include → Output format: Plain paper → OK → Preview or Print. Dated procedures: Clipboard → Ledger → Show transactions for → the patient → Print → Print Account History window → date range → Include procedures only → OK → Document Configuration → Print to Printer or Print Preview. Chart: Hard tissue tab → Print → select the elements (graphical chart, legend) → OK.

   Produces

   Printouts; a PDF via a PDF printer. The account history carries a notation that it is not an official statement.

   Choose

   Progress notes with every entry type for the full date range, plus the account history with Include procedures only.

   Carestream Dental help: Printing progress notes (PracticeWorks)

9. 9

   Lab cases (SoftDent Lab Case Report)

   Path

   Reports → Practice Management → Lab Case Report → Output Options → OK → Lab Case Report Setup → set the Patient ID start and end to the one patient → tick Include Open Lab Cases and Include Completed Lab Cases → OK.

   Produces

   A printed report of the patient’s lab cases. The Output Options choices are not enumerated on the vendor page.

   Carestream Dental help: Lab Case Report (SoftDent)

What the office has to ask Carestream Dental for

These cannot be exported from the software itself. If you need them, say so early — the vendor is a second queue.

• A whole-record or whole-practice export: none is documented; ask Carestream.
• SoftDent Cloud: the Image Storage Drive setting is disabled, so nobody on site can copy the document folder; file-level access goes through Carestream.
• Perio values as data: not documented for either program.
• Images saved in CS Imaging’s Keep current format: only CS Imaging 8 opens them; ask Carestream to convert an old archive.

You may be able to get some of it yourself

SoftDent and PracticeWorks have no vendor patient portal; you request records from the office.