How to Create a Patient in DentalManager: Step-by-Step Guide
- Create the record in under a minute. Search first, then open Add new patient, enter the name and date of birth, add phone and email, assign the responsible dentist and save — the full patient file opens right away.
- Five fields carry most of the value: full name, date of birth, mobile number, email and responsible dentist. Reminders, recalls, printed documents and the dentist's calendar all depend on them.
- Everyone on the team can add patients. Dentists, admins, assistants and secretaries can create and edit records; clinical sessions and payments stay restricted to dentists and admins.
- One record, everything attached. Once the patient exists you can book appointments, chart on the odontogram, register treatments and payments, and print certificates — DentalManager Cloud costs a flat $20/month for the whole clinic, with unlimited patients.
The patient record is the first thing you create in dental software and the last thing you can afford to get wrong. Everything else in the clinic — the agenda, the odontogram, the treatment plan, the open balances, the printed prescription — hangs off that single record.
This guide shows how to create a patient in DentalManager the right way: what to check before you type anything, which fields matter, what to do in the first minute after saving, and the mistakes that quietly corrupt a patient list over time.
1. Why the Patient Record Decides Everything Else
A dental practice does not lose time because a form is slow. It loses time because the record was created incomplete and then repaired over the next three years: a wrong phone number here, a missing dentist there, a second file created for the same person because the spelling changed. For the day-to-day side of that, our guide on how to manage patient records in DentalManager covers opening the file, writing clinical sessions, permissions and data hygiene. Once the first patient is in the system, the rest of day one is covered in how to start using DentalManager Cloud.
Complete records are what make automation work. Reminders need a valid phone number or email. Recall reports need a date of birth to identify the right person. The dentist's calendar only shows patients assigned to that dentist. Printable documents pull the name and address directly from the file, so an incomplete record means an incomplete prescription.
If you want the wider picture, our guide on how dental software helps manage patient records explains what a modern record has to hold, and how to organize dental patient records covers the habits that keep a list clean once it grows past a few hundred people.
2. Search First: The Duplicate Check That Takes 5 Seconds
Before you create anything, type into the patient search: last name, mobile number, or date of birth. If a match appears, open that file instead of creating a new one. This single habit prevents the most common data problem in dental clinics.
Duplicates usually appear in three ways:
- Spelling drift — "Smith" and "Smyth", "Jonas" and "Jones", an accent typed one day and forgotten the next.
- Returning patients — someone who came in two years ago and is registered again because nobody searched first.
- Family members — a parent books for a child and both records end up with the same phone number and different spellings of the same surname.
| Search with | Why it works | Typical false alarm |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile number | People rarely change it, and it is typed the same way every time | A shared family number returning two names — check both |
| Date of birth | Identifies the person even when the name is misspelled | Same birth date, different people — confirm with the name |
| Last name | Fastest option while the patient is still on the phone | Spelling variants — try the first three or four letters |
| First name + surname | Narrows a long list to one person quickly | Nicknames ("Bill" vs "William") — search the legal name too |
3. How to Create a Patient in DentalManager, Step by Step
The whole flow runs in the browser. There is nothing to install, and any team member with access to the clinic account can do it.
Step 1 — Sign in with Google
Open DentalManager and sign in with the Google account of your practice. You land on the calendar with the whole workspace available in the top navigation: appointments, patients, documents and settings.
Step 2 — Search before you create
Use the patient search field with the surname, the mobile number or the date of birth. If the person already exists, open the existing file and stop here — everything you were about to type is already there.
Step 3 — Open Add new patient and enter the identity fields
Fill in the full name exactly as it should appear on prescriptions and certificates, and the date of birth. The date of birth is the second key that identifies a patient when names are typed differently, so enter it as it appears on the ID.
Step 4 — Add the contact details the system will actually use
Enter the mobile number and the email address. These two fields are what confirmations, reminders and recall messages are sent to — an empty phone field means the clinic is back to calling manually. Add the home address as well if you print documents or send statements.
Step 5 — Assign the responsible dentist
Choose the dentist who will treat this patient. The patient then appears in that dentist's calendar and patient list, which is what keeps a multi-dentist clinic from showing everyone's patients to everyone else. In a clinic with up to four dentists this is the difference between a shared list and four clean lists.
Step 6 — Complete what you know about the person
Add the fields you already have in hand: national ID numbers where your country uses them, and above all medications and allergies. A medication note saved at creation is a clinical safety net that most practices only add after an incident.
Step 7 — Save and open the file
Save the record. The patient file opens with the odontogram, the clinical sessions, treatments and payments, and the printable documents — you can book the first appointment without leaving the page.
Still entering patients from a spreadsheet? Move the list into a system where the agenda, the file and the payments read from the same record.
Start Free Trial on DentalManager4. The Fields That Matter Most (and What Breaks When They Are Empty)
| Field | Why it matters | If you leave it empty |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Appears on prescriptions, certificates, treatment plans and payment statements | Documents have to be reprinted by hand |
| Date of birth | Identifies the patient when names are spelled differently; required on most clinical paperwork | Two similar patients become hard to tell apart |
| Mobile number | Destination for confirmations and reminders that reduce no-shows | The front desk calls every appointment manually |
| Email address | Backup channel, document delivery, recall messages | No second chance to reach a patient who ignores calls |
| Responsible dentist | Puts the patient in the right calendar and the right patient list | The patient is invisible to the dentist who should treat them |
| Medications / allergies | Clinical reference visible when the file is opened | Information only lives in someone's memory |
| Address & ID numbers | Used on printed documents and formal records | Incomplete paperwork at the moment it is needed |
The rule is simple: enter everything you already have in front of you during the phone call. Fixing a record later means opening the file, finding the field and typing it anyway — the only difference is when you pay for it.
Add Your First Patient in Under a Minute
Sign in with Google, create the record, book the visit. No installation, no credit card, no per-patient fee.
Start Your Free 7-Day Trial5. The First 60 Seconds After You Save
A record on its own is a name in a list. It becomes useful the moment you attach the work to it:
- Book the appointment while the patient is still on the line — see how to schedule an appointment in DentalManager for the exact steps and how the Google Calendar sync behaves.
- Open the odontogram and mark existing conditions, so the clinical history starts at the first visit instead of the third.
- Record the first session with the date, a short description and the teeth involved. Sessions are attributed to whoever created them, so the clinical record stays clear when several people treat the same patient.
- Register the treatment and the payment if the patient starts a plan: total, amount paid, installments and status. The dashboard then shows it under pending or overdue instead of on a sticky note.
- Print what is needed — certificate, prescription or payment statement — directly from the file.
For the surrounding workflow, dental patient recall systems shows what to do with the records six months later, and how to make a dental practice more efficient puts patient registration inside the wider daily routine.
6. Who on the Team Can Create a Patient?
In DentalManager, patient creation is deliberately open and clinical writing is deliberately closed:
| Role | Create / edit patients | Clinical sessions & payments |
|---|---|---|
| Dentist | Yes | Yes |
| Admin | Yes | Yes |
| Assistant | Yes | No |
| Secretary | Yes | No |
That split matters at the front desk: the receptionist can register a new patient in the middle of a phone call without being able to alter a treatment or a payment. And because sessions and payments record who created them, responsibility stays visible when more than one dentist treats the same person.
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Explore Website Services7. How DentalManager Cloud Keeps Patient Data Safe and Organised
DentalManager Cloud is built for clinics that want one record per patient instead of a folder, a spreadsheet and a notebook. The patient file is the centre of the product:
- Unlimited patients on a flat $20 per month for the whole clinic — there is no per-record or per-seat charge for the front desk.
- Up to 4 dentists, each with their own calendar and patient list, plus assistants and secretaries with their own roles and permissions.
- Interactive odontogram attached to every file, so clinical history is read tooth by tooth instead of scrolled through as text.
- Payments and installments tracked per patient and per dentist, with pending and overdue visible on the dashboard.
- Google sign-in and role-based access, so the record is protected by the same account your team already uses.
- Interface in English, Spanish, German and Portuguese, with printable documents in multiple languages.
Quick Reference: Creating a Patient the Right Way
| # | Action | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Search | Surname, mobile or date of birth checked before anything is typed |
| 2 | Identity | Full name as on the ID plus exact date of birth |
| 3 | Contact | Mobile and email filled in during the same call |
| 4 | Assignment | Responsible dentist selected so the patient lands in the right calendar |
| 5 | Clinical notes | Medications and allergies entered before the first treatment |
| 6 | Next step | Appointment booked and first session recorded while the file is open |
| 7 | Hygiene | Contact details re-checked whenever a call fails |
One Record per Patient. $20/Month for the Whole Clinic.
Unlimited patients, odontogram, agenda with Google Calendar sync, billing and printable documents. Free 7-day trial, no credit card.
Start Your Free 7-Day TrialFrequently Asked Questions
Sign in with Google, open Add new patient, search first to make sure the person is not already in your list, then enter the name, date of birth, phone, email and the dentist responsible. Save, and the full patient file opens with the odontogram, sessions, payments and printable documents.
The name and date of birth are enough to create the record. In practice you should also add a mobile number and an email address, because those are what reminders, recalls and printed documents rely on, plus the responsible dentist so the patient appears in the right calendar and patient list.
Always search before you create. Type the last name, the mobile number or the date of birth into the patient search field: most duplicates come from typing a slightly different spelling of the same name, or from adding a returning patient as new. If a match exists, open that record instead of creating another one.
Yes. Dentists, admins, assistants and secretaries can all create and edit patient records. Clinical sessions and payments are restricted to dentists and admins, so the front desk can register a patient safely without touching the clinical or financial history.
Yes. Open the patient file from the patient list and update the contact details, address, medications or responsible dentist at any time. Keeping the phone number and email current is what keeps automatic reminders and recall messages working.
Book appointments on the dentist's calendar, record clinical sessions with the interactive odontogram, register treatments and payments with installments, and print certificates, prescriptions and payment statements — all from the same file.
No. DentalManager Cloud costs a flat $20 per month for the whole clinic, with unlimited patients, up to 4 dentists and unlimited assistants and secretaries. There is a free 7-day trial with no credit card required.