Marking 10 years of innovation

As Dentally, the market leading cloud enabled practice management software proudly celebrates its 10th anniversary this year - we take a moment to reflect on the journey of evolution which has demonstrated a constant commitment to dentists and making their lives easier. Let’s take a look at a decade of milestones.

Founding vision

Dentally co-founders, Nick Davies and James Harker, envisioned a practice management solution for dental practices that would alleviate the stress of IT and the burden of admin, and help them deliver exceptional patient care. Leveraging the power of being cloud native from day one, and with collaboration with dentists, Dentally was born.

Customer focused

At the heart of Dentally is an unwavering commitment to our customers. Our customer’s voices shape our software, through their valuable insights and feedback. We are focused on providing practitioners with the solution they need, now and in the future.

First steps and launch

The first step to developing Dentally was ensuring that the software had an intuitive user interface. Recognising the complexity of some of the existing solutions on the market, the team focused on removing the barriers to users and developing a system that could easily be learned and used by users, whatever level of IT skills they had. Beta testing in 2013, led to an official launch into the UK in 2014.

10 years of changes

 In the past 10 years, dentistry has changed dramatically and continues to be transformed in many different ways by external factors such as:

1. Technological advancements with the rise of digital dentistry, 3D printing and imaging.

2. Regulatory changes.

3. Shifts in patient expectations.

4. Renewed focus on preventive care.

5. Staffing changes with the introduction of therapists and changes in roles to hygienists.

6. Growing awareness of Environmental issues and how to sustainably minimise the impact of single use plastics and adopting paper less admin.

7. Integration of AI into our everyday lives and its growing influence of diagnostics.

8. Global pandemic and the ongoing impact and ramifications of COVID-19.

9. Impact of conflict and impact on utilities.

10. Financial markets and inflation concerns.

11. All of these continue to shape our own day-to-day lives and the world of dentistry. In that time Dentally has continued its commitment to innovation and supporting its users to navigate the challenges they face every day.

Key product milestones

 In software development, 10 years is a significant period of time and so we aren’t able to cover all of the new features that have been added to Dentally. However, we have identified just a few key milestones that have shaped Dentally, that we believe show some of the ways our software has adapted to support dental practices deliver patient care and grow their businesses.

NHS Certification: In late 2013 in the UK with NHS England certification passed and the first NHS claim was submitted with a Beta test customer on the 13th of November 2013 and a response received three days later. In 2014, Dentally officially launched with its first practice live on the 22nd of April.

2015 was all about the release of the new version of Dentally! The team retired the ‘Classic’ Dentally interface following lots of early customer feedback, and brought a new improved version of the software, with an improved chart and countless new features.

Postcode finder was a game changer for reception teams, with its introduction in December 2015 - enabling practices to find patient addresses with ease.

Calendar updates, email attachments and a new iPad app for forms. In 2016, the calendar became even better as you could see all the patient details from this screen including their contact details and appointment information. Plus the ability to navigate the previous week on the calendar with a simple click. We also added the ability to add email attachments to patient comms and developed a new iPad app for digital forms for patients upon arrival..

2017 was all about clinical notes and Dentally Mail!  Clinical notes and treatment plans were the focus, improving the way notes could be saved, edited and the duplication of treatment plan options - helped for a seamless experience of the clinician and improved treatment adoption. We also introduced Dentally Mail, as a new way of sending paper mail to patients.

Xero integration: In February 2017 we announced our first big integration partner, with Xero, the online accounting software to support dental practices with their accounts.

2018, new additions: We became an approved software supplier for NHS Scotland, and in the same year acquired Goodteith, welcoming their team and practices to Dentally.

Reporting was a key focus in 2019, with extensive new patient reports added to the software, along with Waiting Lists functionality and flexible recalls.

COVID-19 Toolkit: 2020 was a year of change, as we all learned to navigate COVID-19. Our team introduced a huge number of changes, as dentists had to learn to work differently, to protect their staff and deliver much needed patient care. We introduced a number of new features including outbound telephone calling, tasks list, contactless reception tools, medical history links; plus, we connected remote teams with Dentally chat and helped practices stay in touch with patients through automated comms.

Our Patient Portal initially became part of the Dentally story in 2019, when a developer built an integration with Dentally using our open API, we worked closely with their team and later they became part of family, as we recognised the importance of a seamless patient experience.

In 2021 we gave Dentally Portal a face lift, with a new precision login and empowering your patients to take care of their oral health, and help you deliver an effortless patient experience. Our open API is an important part of our story, enabling our users to build one eco system with seamless integrations with third party solution to optimise their workflows and business growth, whether they are looking to integrate with accounting software, patient review platforms or marketing lead generation tools.

2021 marked the start of a global adventure on the other side of the globe! We launched in Australia following 12 months of research and product development in collaboration with local Australian dentists to ensure we provided them with a simple secure cloud solution, with powerful automation tools and fully integrated with HICAPS for their claims process.

New perio exam: In 2022 we introduced a new look to the perio exam, with clear teeth icons, exam comparisons, improved workflow settings configured to the individual practitioner and enhanced graphical representation.

Introducing Dentally Vision: In 2023, we launched our cloud imaging solution, Dentally Vision, allowing you to acquire, manage and access images and x-rays completely in the cloud.

2024 and beyond

As we celebrate a decade of innovation, we are of course looking to the future. This year, we have even more innovative ideas that we can’t wait to share with you but for now from all the Dentally team, thank you to all our users for their continued support.