Your practice continues to grow, and the dental industry continues to change and evolve. How your practice communicates with patients, offers treatment, and manages practice growth, all of this can transform over time. Your practice management system should be able to grow and develop right along with you, and one of the ways it does this is through software updates. In this post, we’ll discuss the main reasons why you’ll want to consider updating to the latest stable version each and every time it is released (and we do that about 4 times per year).

CDT Codes

Each year, new CDT codes are released, some may be updated, and some obsoleted. Typically, new codes are released for use at the end of each calendar year, and our last release of the year will include these codes. This year, the ADA released several brand new COVID-related codes in an unusual springtime release, and these were quickly included and released in stable version 20.5, released on 03/11/2021. All CDT code updates are released as part of our software updates.

New Tools and Features

Each software release typically includes several dozen new features – many of them requested by our users! If you’ve used our Feature Request system in the past, you know this is an important tool that guides our software development, and updating to the latest stable version makes all the new tools available for your office to use to help manage your practice even more efficiently. Each version release is accompanied by a post highlighting new features so you can learn about the new tools in the software. When you’re on our blog, you can search for Version Release Highlights under POST CATEGORIES to learn about the major features we’ve introduced in past versions.

For a comprehensive list of all improvements, search “Versions” on our website, and select the specific version for a list of all changes implemented.

“Behind the Scenes” Updates and Improvements

Speed improvements are an example of the type of thing we are constantly working to improve. Although we may not be announcing these from the rooftops, being on the latest stable version will ensure you’re getting the best possible performance from the software.

Bug Fixes

By nature, software development includes the possibility of minor bugs in the program. While we don’t like that this happens, we are committed to providing fixes for these as quickly as possible, often in as little as a few days. Bug fixes are released as soon as they are completed, and you can always check for updates and update to the latest build for your version to get any fixes we’ve made.

There is No Additional Cost for Updates!

When you are on Support with Open Dental, you have access to our technical support, eServices, training, sheet design & custom query services, and software updates! There is never an additional cost to update your software, so don’t delay : )

Ready to update?

Here’s a quick video to walk you through. As always, if you need any help or have questions about updating, just get in touch with us – we’re here for you!