The Case for Ongoing Open Dental Training

If you’ve recently converted to Open Dental—or even if you’ve been using it for years—you might be relying on that first onboarding call to do all the heavy lifting. And hey, technically, that initial call can get your team “up and running.” But let’s be real... “up and running” doesn’t mean “thriving.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from dental offices years into their Open Dental journey saying things like:

🗣️ “I wish I would’ve known this sooner.”

🗣️ “That one setting would’ve saved us hours every week.”

🗣️ “We’ve been doing it the hard way this whole time?”

And I get it. Open Dental is incredible software—but it’s also a blank slate. That’s both the beauty and the beast of it. You don’t know what you don’t know, and without proper training, you’re likely leaving efficiency, productivity, and even revenue on the table.

The Birth of SKF Practice Solutions

One of the biggest reasons I founded SKF Practice Solutions was because I saw firsthand how inconsistently Open Dental was being used—even within the same group practice. It was clear to me that offices needed more than just the basics. They needed systems. They needed customization. And they needed someone to help them build a database that actually worked for their workflow—not against it.

Why Open Dental Training Should Be an Ongoing Strategy

Here’s the thing: effective Open Dental training doesn’t end with your go-live date. In fact, that’s when it should begin. When you invest in ongoing, role-specific Open Dental training (yes, front desk and clinical teams need different things!), you unlock:

⏱️ Massive time savings through shortcuts and workflow automations

✅ Cleaner data and fewer workarounds

💸 Improved collections with better use of billing and insurance tools

🤝 Higher team confidence and smoother onboarding of new hires

📊 Better patient care because your systems run like clockwork

Pro Tips Make a Big Impact

It's rarely the big things that transform how an office uses Open Dental. It's the little nuggets—how to link programs, how to auto-generate notes, how to set up effective appointment types—that make team members say, “Wait, you can do that?”

Stop Surviving. Start Thriving.

If your office is still winging it with Open Dental, you’re not alone. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. Whether you're brand new to the software or a decade in, it's never too late to train smarter.

Let’s build systems that support your team, not slow them down. Want help designing a custom Open Dental training plan that actually sticks? You know where to find us. 😉