The time has come where dental offices no longer have to rely on mechanical devices that were designed forty or fifty years ago. Only until recently, dentists had limited options when communicating within their practices. One solution was hard-wired panels that used a series of lights to determine when or where someone was needed. This was a tremendous tool for practices and allowed them to run more efficiently. The biggest drawback to light panel systems was the cost. Larger practices could easily spend $15,000 or even more. Functionally, there were other drawbacks, such as the need to constantly look up to check the panel to see if you were being paged.

The most common form of communication within dental practices was to roam the office and chase down the person needed. This could be very annoying for everyone and appear unprofessional to your patients. Most of all it wastes more time than you can imagine. While both light panels and direct communication work to get basic messages across, modern technology has a much more practical solution that will change the future of how dental offices will operate.

With the drive toward the paperless offices that use practice management software and digital imaging, more and more dentists are relying on computers for efficiency and practicality. The future of dentistry relies upon the major role that computers play in the 21^st century practice. In the wake of computerization, it was only a matter of time before a software-based application would be available as a practical solution for communicating within the typical dental practice.

One product that is very popular is called BlueNote Communicator (www.bluenotecommunicator.com) and was designed to use computers to move messages through the dental practice. By using pop-up screens and distinct tones for each staff member, communicating becomes as easy as the click of a mouse button. BlueNote uses the existing computer network to greatly enhance the productivity long desired by the dentist.

Because software isn’t limited by fixed buttons, such as that of analog light panels, a broad range of customization becomes quickly apparent. Each person in the office has a different tone so he or she is not always looking up at a panel every time the messaging system is activated. Only when your custom tone rings do you have to respond to what is needed, saving valuable time. The software also allows you to customize the locations which receive pages as well as whether or not pop-up screens appear on certain computers. Best of all it does not require your staff to have more than the basic computer knowledge; it’s actually very easy to learn and implement.

Some dental practices have tried using wireless radios to talk to one another within the practice. Unfortunately, there is often resistance to having to wear a microphone and an earpiece and the novelty usually wears out soon. Because computer tones can be heard throughout the office, even in the hallways, messages are being transmitted on the same plane of communication as the wireless radios. Patients have little awareness that the ringtones that they may be hearing in the background are actually messages being passed back and forth within your office.

Software messaging systems also provide text messaging which allows users the ability to send typed text within their practice, very much like an Instant Messaging service. While some practices have tried using Instant Messaging across the internet, text messaging within a program assures that it is being used for work purposes only, as well as resolving the security concerns of exposure on the web.

What is most important is that there is finally a legitimate solution to the problem of efficiently delivering communications throughout the dental office. By utilizing sight as well as sounds to deliver messages instantly, technology has made it possible for practices to have a low cost solution to their intra-office communications.

The other main advantage to software based messaging is cost. While some programs charge on a per user basis, programs like BlueNote will run under $800 and don’t charge for additional licenses.

Of course, the system will only work with two conditions: First, you must have computers throughout the office, including the operatories. And secondly, you’ll need either monitors with speakers or a sound card in the computer (many business-class computers don’t have this automatically). Offi9ce that meet these requirements, though, should strongly consider software-based messaging systems.