My dad practiced dentistry since the 70s and never digitized his office. Every patient had a folder. There was a phone, a typewriter, and a calendar. I don't know how insurance claims worked, maybe by post.
When I moved to New York I was surprised to find a dentist whose practice was much the same, though he did have a few computers around. He retired recently.
Computers no doubt can improve things; a lot of it seems like a no-brainer. But I'm starting to doubt that they're there to improve things.
It's not just filing the X-rays. Back in the day, for a big crown you got yourself a full mouth cast, ship it away, and eventually you got a crown which hopefully fit. Today you get a much less invasive scan before the root canal. one after, and the 3d printer in the back creates a crown that fits. Much faster, cheaper and typically even more accurate.
to quote Wendell Berry, “the more superficial and unsatisfying our lives become, the faster we need to progress"
My dentist uses a software that seems pretty efficient. All the x-rays and other notes are right there. One big plus is that the screen is faced towards me so I can also see what they are doing.
> Computers no doubt can improve things; a lot of it seems like a no-brainer. But I'm starting to doubt that they're there to improve things.
They stopped the improvement around Win 10. Since then, everybody (Microsoft, linux, Apple - Google never had a wheel) is reinventing a worse wheel, regularly.
Dental software is terrible as far as I can tell. I’m at school /practice were the staff cheered loudly when it was announced they were planning to upgrade or change vendors.
I never saw such passion about software.