In my years as a dentist and now as the founder of Oryx, I’ve come to deeply admire pediatric dental professionals. You have mastered the art of calming little nerves, reassuring worried parents, and delivering gentle care with speed and accuracy. And, for the sake of the parent and the patient, you make it look easy!
Beyond my own experiences as a dentist, my sister has also served as a pediatric dentist for many years. I’ve seen firsthand that her practice is one of the most complex and critical specialties in our field.
The patients are small, but the responsibilities are huge. You’re treating cavities while laying the foundation for a child’s lifelong relationship with their oral health. However, many tech solutions overlook the importance and many nuances of this work.
That’s why I built Oryx to serve you.
As a practice management software built by dentists, for dentistry, Oryx is different. Our goal is to design technology that truly understands and supports the nuances and heart of pediatric dentistry.
Learn More: Explore All of Oryx’s Pediatric Features
Obstacles Encountered by Pediatric Dental Professionals That Software Should Fix
Over the years, I’ve spoken to many pediatric dental professionals who find their current software overwhelming or insufficient. Some of the more common reported software issues include:
- Charting Speed: Manual charting lacks speed and simplicity on high-volume days.
- Lack of Integration: Front office and clinical staff are forced to work in completely separate digital environments, leaving no room for handoffs.
- Growth Enablement: Not useful or scalable for growing practices.
- Limited Customization: Broadly, an inability to adjust features and visuals to meet practice needs.
- Poor UX: Does not have engaging designs to better communicate diagnosis and treatments to patients.
- Workflow Problems: Prioritizes front-office needs at the expense of clinical expertise, or, even worse, crashes when the workflow becomes too busy.
What’s more, these basic functional issues often lower dentists’ expectations for quality of care. I’ve never met a pediatric dentist who doesn’t want to do everything they possibly can for every patient. Of course, it’s only natural for the window of “what’s possible” to seemingly shrink if all the time and technology one has available never seems to be enough.
“We can’t ask that many questions.” “We don’t have the time to run deep clinical examinations.” I hear these sort of resigned deflections all the time, but I also know how every “what if” consideration for every patient can creep into every dentist’s mind every night, especially when your patients are children.
It’s why Oryx is built with more clinical capabilities, with patient-first flexibility, and practice-efficiency boosting fluidity. You can actually chart more details, with less effort in the same amount of time it’d take to just capture the basics on a traditional platform. You can ask more questions for your patients outside of the exam room, outside of office hours, all in advance and at the family’s convenience through customizable intake forms, questionnaires, and patient portals. There’s no added data entry for your office managers. It all flows in HIPPA-compliant channels into your patient records.
It’s fair to assume such things wouldn’t be possible in other dental software platforms, but in Oryx, the highest quality of care is attainable for even the most fast-paced pediatric practices.
Tailored Tools that Make a Difference
At Oryx, we’ve worked closely with pediatric dentists to tailor our platform to the unique realities of your specialty. You told us what matters most in the day-to-day operations of a pediatric practice, and we listened and we continue to listen to always be evolving to suit your needs.
Growth-Tracking That Evolves with the Patient
Kids’ teeth are constantly changing as they age, meaning standard charts just don’t cut it. Without advanced tools, dentists could miss [things?} tooth eruption, jaw development, and subtle alignment changes, all of which may lead to oral health issues into adulthood.
Oryx’s Pediatric Growth Tracking feature lets your staff visualize and document tooth development clearly over time with built-in visuals. The visual odontograms are linked to comprehensive, pediatric-specific dental exams that can condense what could be a 10 to 15 minute clinical exam to fit the 1 to 5 minute, in-and-out sweet spot you want with patients.
Learn More: Pediatric Dental Growth Tracking
Pediatric Charting Reflecting Real Workflows
We firmly believe that dental exams for every age should be based on the latest evidence and research. Oryx has a longstanding partnership with the AAPD, allowing us to develop the best possible, logic-based charting system.
With custom charting tools for pediatric dentistry, Oryx accounts for primary, mixed, and permanent dentition. Our functional visual design facilitates fast, accurate, and consistent charting through a step-by-step process that aligns with the natural flow of pediatric exams. We keep it simple so staff can follow along without missing critical information.
Learn More: How to Choose the Best Charting Tools for Pediatric Dentists
Built-in Charting for Supernumerary Teeth
Dentists can usually count on working with a standard number of teeth, but not always. These extra, supernumerary teeth can complicate charting and require software workarounds. Even then, it’s difficult to communicate variability in a way that payers can understand,
Oryx allows dentists to easily switch to a pediatric odontogram, which automatically applies ADA tooth numbering for extra teeth. These supernumerary teeth become part of the patient’s electronic health record (EHR), ensuring consistency for future care as well as insurance claims.
Learn More: Master Supernumerary Teeth Charting: Why Modern Practices Trust Oryx
Digital Check-Ins to Enhance Parent Experience
A digital check-in allows parents to fill out necessary paperwork ahead of time and from the comfort of their home. From there, information can be directly and automatically added to a patient’s EHR.
Oryx offers online intake forms, automated insurance pre-verification, simplified informed consent via eConsent, and real-time data integration. This paperless pre-check-in reduces the front-desk workload and supports families’ busy schedules.
Learn More: How Digital Check-Ins Improve Efficiency and Patient Comfort in Dentistry
A Workflow that Works for Everyone
Pediatric dentistry expands far beyond the patient and dentist. The process also involves the patient’s parents or caregiver, clinical support desk, and front desk staff. A smooth experience depends on a seamless handoff of patient information and treatment planning.
Oryx improves this flow in every facet of operations, from the front desk to the appointment room and beyond. A typical workflow for a pediatric appointment with Oryx can look like this:
- Parents can schedule their child’s appointment at any time and from anywhere via our online appointment scheduling tool.
- Oryx sends pre-visit appointment reminders to ensure the appointment is kept.
- Parents or caregivers fill out documentation ahead of time with a digital check-in.
- The patient receives a pediatric-specific exam from a pre-built charting and notetaking template, designed with built-in evidence-based protocols.
- Patients and guardians receive a treatment plan with clear recommendations.
- Parents and caregivers can consent to treatment in-office or remotely via online consent signing.
- Oryx sends post-visit follow-ups that include instructions, education, and personalized next steps—all tailored to pediatric patients.
- Front desk staff access fully integrated patient records to accurately bill payers.
- Staff see and use customized pediatric reports to improve performance at future appointments.
This workflow involves each party impacted by a pediatric appointment and allows each person to work from one convenient platform.
Learn More: How Tech-Powered Pediatric Care Creates Better Patient Experiences (and Happier Parents!)
See Oryx in Action
As a mother of two, I don’t take the responsibility of laying the groundwork for lifelong oral health lightly. Every day, I’m inspired by the way pediatric dentists do so much and make it look effortless. The way my pediatric colleagues take on emotional labor, behavioral guidance, and family education, often during short, high-pressure appointments, is something to celebrate.
Oryx is proud to serve you as you serve so many little ones. I invite you to book a personalized demo of our software for a deeper look at our platform, built for pediatric dentistry, with feedback from pediatric professionals.
Designed for little patients. Built for big impact. Request a demo today.
