Care coordination in the dental industry barely exists.
While the medical industry has made progress toward interoperability with several recent initiatives, dentistry continues to lag behind its healthcare counterparts in supporting the principles of “open data,” which allow information to be freely accessed, used, and shared across platforms without restrictive barriers.
Improved data-sharing offers significant benefits for both patients and providers.
Dental interoperability benefits patients by ensuring their records, images, and treatment histories seamlessly follow them between providers, reducing redundant procedures, improving diagnostic accuracy, and enabling more personalized, coordinated, and timely care.
For providers, interoperability streamlines administrative tasks, reduces claim denials, and enhances diagnostic accuracy by providing dentists with access to complete patient histories and imaging, resulting in more efficient operations, stronger patient relationships, and improved clinical outcomes.
Ultimately, interoperability is about “effective communication,” according to the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health. Effective communication increases the likelihood that all parties involved will achieve the shared outcomes they seek.
Stated more simply: Improved interoperability leads to better patient care.
Dental interoperability: An afterthought for too long
A lack of open data standards has been a notorious, chronic problem in the dental industry. For example, the interoperability and data accessibility of dental records for patients and dentists are more limited than those for medical health information, according to the American Dental Association (ADA).
Indeed, “dental practices have long been something of an afterthought in the nationwide post-HITECH push for interoperability,” according to Healthcare IT News. The lack of interoperability in dentistry runs two ways: first, among dentists sharing information with other dentists, and second, for dentists exchanging data with medical providers, such as primary care or emergency care physicians.
Both can result in costly, disconnected, and ineffective patient care, as well as significant waste throughout the dental and healthcare systems. To that end, the ADA estimates that poor communication and referral capacity between emergency and dental systems costs the U.S. healthcare system more than $3.5 billion annually.
One major hindrance to dental interoperability is driven by the ownership of patient records. Legally, dental practices serve as custodians of patient records and are obligated under HIPAA and state privacy laws to safeguard this information. While this duty is vital, it can create reluctance to share data, even when doing so would enhance patient care.
Technical challenges compound the issue, as many dental practice management and electronic health record (EHR) systems lack standardized formats or open APIs, making cross-platform data exchange cumbersome. Without standardization, sharing x-rays, treatment notes, or insurance details often requires manual workarounds that consume time and increase the risk of errors.
Economic and competitive pressures further discourage openness, as some providers fear that making records easily transferable could lead to patient loss or reduced revenue. In this environment, patient data is too often viewed as proprietary, a stark contrast to the medical field, where open data is embraced as essential to coordinated, high-quality care.
Promoting open data in dentistry
Achieving true interoperability in dentistry will require more than government mandates. Instead, it will take a cultural shift driven by patients and providers. Change must come from the ground up, beginning with patients who expect the same level of data accessibility from their dentists that they already experience in medicine.
When patients regularly request their records, question why information doesn’t transfer between offices, and demand digital access, it puts pressure on practices and vendors to modernize. Likewise, providers must recognize that requiring access to complete, portable patient data is essential for delivering quality care and maintaining operational efficiency.
Interoperability shouldn’t require patients to make phone calls or request paper files; it should be as simple as clicking a button to securely share or view their dental records.
Of course, technology can help make that vision a reality, but the market must first demand it. Many current practice management systems act as gatekeepers, holding data in proprietary formats that prevent easy exchange. Until there is consistent pressure from both patients and providers for openness, the incentive to rebuild these systems around interoperability will remain low.
The next wave of progress will depend on empowering users to ask the right questions about data portability, compliance, and access, as well as fostering an environment where information flows freely between systems.
A call for collective action
Improved interoperability stands to transform dental care by breaking down silos between systems and stakeholders. Patients benefit from easier access to their records and more coordinated treatment, while providers gain efficiency, accuracy, and trust.
However, real progress requires collective action: patients demanding transparency, providers insisting on data access, and technology developers responding with open, connected solutions. When all parties embrace the shared goal of effective communication, the result is better care, stronger relationships, and a more modern, equitable dental industry.
About James Grover
James Grover has an extensive background in both Dental RCM and Fintech solutions. Prior to joining Vyne Dental, he served as the Head of Product and/or Technology for Dental Intelligence, Global Payments Integrated, and Henry Schein Practice Solutions.
