Smart Scan for Paper Records
Dentospire's Smart Scan turns a photograph of a handwritten dental case sheet into filled-in patient and visit fields, so a clinic with years of paper records can move them in without retyping each one.
The problem in a real clinic
The cupboard holds years of case sheets, and nobody has the evenings to retype them. So the old history stays on paper, and when a patient from five years ago returns, someone is searching a shelf while they wait at the desk.
How it works
- On the Patients page, click Scan Old Record.
- Take a photo with the device camera or choose one you already have. A flat, bright, straight-on photo reads best.
- Dentospire reads the page and fills in the patient's name, age, gender and phone, the visit date, complaint, findings, the written assessment, tooth numbers, procedures, medicines and follow-up.
- Check every field against the sheet. Anything the page did not show stays empty and reads “Not found on the page”.
- Press Save record. Dentospire creates the patient and a SOAP clinical note titled Scanned record with that visit's date, or press Scan another to start over.
What you see on screen
- One editable box per field, filled from the photo, so a misread word is corrected before it is saved.
- A short message saying how many fields were read, reminding you to check them first.
- Tooth numbers exactly as they were written on the sheet, and clinic shorthand such as RCT or IOPA left as it is.
Safety and control
- Nothing is written to the record by the scan itself. Only Save record creates the patient and the note, after you have checked the fields.
- It is told to leave a field empty rather than guess, and not to complete a drug name it cannot read.
- Only the clinic's own uploaded photo can be scanned, and staff need the AI permission to use it.
- The saved record goes through the same patient and clinical-note actions as one typed by hand, with the same checks.
Good to know
- Each page scanned uses one query from the clinic's daily AI allowance, which rises with the plan.
- Each save starts a new patient. If the patient is already in Dentospire, add the old visit to their record by hand instead.
- Procedures and medicines are saved as text in the note's Plan, not as separate treatment or prescription entries.
- Faint, folded or angled pages read poorly; photograph them flat and in good light.
Frequently asked questions
Can Dentospire read handwritten dental case sheets?
Yes. Photograph the sheet from the Patients page and Smart Scan fills in the patient and visit fields from the handwriting. Handwriting is read, not understood, so every field stays editable and nothing is saved until you have checked it and pressed Save record.
Where does a scanned paper record end up in Dentospire?
Save record creates the patient with their name, phone, age and gender, and adds a SOAP clinical note titled Scanned record with the visit date. The complaint, findings, assessment and plan from the sheet go into the matching parts of that note.
Does Smart Scan add an old case sheet to a patient who is already registered?
Not today. Smart Scan starts a new patient each time you save, and it does not look for an existing match. For a patient already in Dentospire, add the old visit to their record by hand so you do not end up with two files.
Does scanning old dental records count against my AI allowance?
Yes. Each page read uses one query from the clinic's daily AI allowance, the same allowance as the other AI tools, and the allowance rises with the plan. Staff also need the AI permission switched on to use it.
Related
Move Your Old Data In Yourself
Upload your old software's export, see exactly what will land, then commit.
Moving off paper and Excel
The records exist and they work — until someone needs last year's file, or the spreadsheet is on the machine that died.
Voice-to-SOAP Clinical Notes
Speak the visit in English or an Indian language and Dentospire drafts a SOAP note for you to check and save.