How to Switch Dental Software Without Losing Patient Data
The 6-step process that works for practices under 3,000 active patients — including what to ask your new vendor before you sign anything.
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The #1 Myth About Migration
"Switching dental software will mean we lose our patient history." This isn't true — but it requires asking the right questions and working with vendors who have done this migration before. Every vendor on our recommended list has migrated practices from Dentrix, Eaglesoft, and Open Dental successfully.
Step 1: Decide What Data You Actually Need to Migrate
Not everything needs to come over. Focusing your migration reduces complexity and timeline significantly. In our experience working with practices, the critical data is:
- ✓ Active patient demographics (name, DOB, contact, insurance)
- ✓ Account ledger and outstanding balances
- ✓ Treatment plans in progress
- ✓ Scheduled future appointments
- ✓ Prescription history (for compliance)
What you often don't need to migrate: inactive patients (last visit 5+ years ago), completed treatment plan details for closed cases, and historical notes that aren't clinically relevant. Discuss the cutoff with your new vendor.
Step 2: Ask These Questions Before Signing
Before you commit to a new vendor, get answers in writing to these four questions:
"What patient data do you migrate from [current software]?"
What to look for: Get a specific list. 'All your data' is not an answer.
"Who handles the migration — your team or a third party?"
What to look for: In-house migration teams have more accountability. Third-party migrations add a point of failure.
"What's the go-live timeline from contract signing?"
What to look for: 4–8 weeks is normal for a practice under 3,000 active patients. Longer timelines usually indicate resource constraints.
"What's the rollback plan if we have critical issues on go-live day?"
What to look for: There should be one. Your old system should stay accessible in read-only mode for at least 30 days.
Step 3: Handle Imaging Separately
Clinical images (X-rays, intraoral photos, CBCT) are almost always handled as a separate migration from the practice management data. This is normal. Your images stay in your imaging software's database, and the new practice management system links to them via a bridge.
Before go-live, confirm that your imaging software (Dexis, Apteryx, Romexis, etc.) has a verified bridge to your new platform. For cloud platforms, confirm the imaging bridge works with your specific version.
Step 4: Train Your Front Desk First
Clinical staff adapt faster than front desk staff when switching software. Charting workflows are similar across platforms. Scheduling, insurance billing, and patient communication are where front desk staff have the most deeply ingrained habits — and where the most resistance comes from.
Recommendations from practices that have done this well:
- → Train front desk 2–3 weeks before go-live, not the day before
- → Run parallel on the training environment for one full week
- → Identify one "power user" per desk who becomes the go-to for colleagues
- → Have vendor support on call for go-live day, not just available by ticket
Step 5: Go Live on a Low-Volume Day
Go live on a Tuesday or Wednesday — never Monday (busiest day) and never Friday (if problems emerge, you want a full week to resolve them with vendor support available). Schedule lighter patient loads for the first 3 days.
Step 6: Keep Old System in Read-Only Mode for 90 Days
Even after a successful migration, you'll have staff looking up historical notes and referencing old records for the first few weeks. Negotiate with your old vendor to keep read-only database access for 90 days after your contract ends. Most will agree to a nominal fee for this.
The Three Most Common Migration Mistakes
- 1. Not validating migrated data before go-live. Spot-check 20–30 patient records after migration, before your old system goes offline.
- 2. Training too late. Staff who learn the software for the first time on go-live day have a miserable experience and take it out on the vendor.
- 3. Migrating inactive patients. Migrating 10,000 records when 6,000 are inactive bloats your database and slows your migration timeline.
Ready to Start the Migration Process?
Curve Dental and tab32 both have dedicated migration teams with experience migrating practices from Dentrix, Eaglesoft, and Open Dental.