Good to fair. I use it at offices when I temp

I first was introduced to dentrix in dental hygiene school. At the time, It was the only dental software I knew of and felt as though it was pretty easy to use. In hygiene school, you do not use the software to its' best ability because we are limited to what we do w the dental charting, etc. I have used dentrix often during temping and do find it a little confusing, but I seem to manage pretty well with help from staff.

I am not a big fan of dentrix, I think it can be confusing and non-user friendly at times.

support, from both my customer success manager, [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN], as well as the tech support team have made the experience of converting to Ascend easy to manage

ability to report, review, and manage all offices without having to be on site.

there are many of my current feature requests included in the road map, but currently i would like to see a marketing campaign tool.

Our office made the switch from Viive, which itself was a very frustrating piece of software as it would constantly drop connection to the server even after several "fixes" and technical support sessions with both Mac and Viive. I was excited for Dentrix Ascend, being a long-time Dentrix veteran, knowing the power of the Dentrix applications. However, in my experience with Dentrix Ascend so far, it is clear that Ascend is a gutless wonder, especially compared with how powerful Dentrix Proper is (and even Eaglesoft, for that matter!), and as such, is has been an utter disappointment. Full disclosure: I handle the front office/insurance/accounting end of things, so I cannot speak to the clinical end of things. My review is solely of the front office and accounting end of things. Keep in mind it may be delightful for the clinician. I am pleased with the fact that we no longer have to deal with constant server connection fails, so that is nice. But still not enough to make up for Ascend's other shortcomings. My first gripe is that once an insurance carrier is established, you cannot edit the payor ID. And once groups are established under a carrier, you cannot move the groups. This means, if a carrier is set up incorrectly (say, with payor ID 06126 that directs the clearing house to print and mail all claim) with several groups, you have to manually recreate the carrier and each group underneath, which is a cumbersome and time-consuming process. Secondly, with the procedure codes, many of them default to "mouth" for treatment area, even for common codes that virtually every insurance company requires more specific information. If the procedure code is used a single time, you lose the ability to edit even the treatment area. This was a big problem for us, as treatment plans converted over with several codes that are uneditable because they are "in use." We have had to create several "alias" codes, which the clinical side now has to remember to choose. Third, Viive allowed for payment tables under each group (similar to Dentrix Proper and Eaglesoft and several other software options), that would allow any exceptions in payment to be logged for future prediction. This is not the case in Ascend. This was an important Viive feature for us because we participate with an insurance company who calculates payment based on two fee schedules: maximum allowable per provider contract and maximum allowable according to policy contract. With Ascend, you are at the mercy of coverage percentages and cannot account for the two separate yet inseparable fee schedule. I got excited when I saw the "copay" field in the coverage table and spent a large amount of time updating this field for each group, only to find out from technical support that this is not a covered feature. So, ultimately we have had to develop external tools to help us predict patient responsibility. Dentrix Ascend has completely failed us in this area. Finally, we have hit a roadblock with NEA attachments. We are having to continue using Viive because of the inability of ledgers to be transferred over to Ascend (ledgers include open claims). To make a long story short, because we are maintaining a subscription to NEA through Viive in order to be able to keep sending attachments for unresolved claims, we are unable to send attachments through Ascend. Our only options are 1) to terminate our NEA subscription under Viive and print and mail all claims requiring attachments, 2) to manually move treatment over to Ascend and resume claim troubleshooting under Ascend, or 3) print and mail all claims from Ascend requiring attachments. We are probably going to go with option (1), but really, any option is a huge inconvenience. Bottom line, as the numbers and insurance person, I would never recommend this software in its current state. I am a huge Eaglesoft critic, but I would wholeheartedly recommend even that software over Dentrix Ascend. Ascend, you have a long way to go before you will get my vouch.

Access from anywhere, line-item accounting, some user-defined reports, everything is backed up in the cloud. There is potential.

Just about everything else: confusing ledger, user-unfriendly insurance setup, inability to edit procedure codes, inability to override insurance payments at a group level and on a procedure code level, NEA attachment failures.

Analyzing the accounts receivables ,unscheduled treatment plans ,recare patients,patients portions and so on are some most needed and valuable reports from the power reporting.

The best thing i like in this software is there user friendly functionality which make it so different and valuable to all.

Sometimes it get froze so we need to refresh the browser to proceed.

The best thing so far is being able to utilize Patient Communications, emails and texts make a huge difference with our recare.

This software is so user friendly. We are readily able to find what we need using the drop downs. When we want to add something to a chart it is clear where to find the chart, or notes, etc. Every time there is an applied update it improves the process and makes sense. Ascend is very in-touch with what we, the users, need.

There are only a few hiccups we have found but they are small and we have found work-arounds; some verbiage in the texts or emails, but they are all being looked at or addressed.

We are clearly making better decisions and better financial forecasts with the dashboard. It has made the phrase "work smarter, not harder" a reality for us!

There are multiple things to like about this software. First and foremost is the ease of use and intuitive flow. The second and for some of us, importantly, the support is immediate, friendly and definitive. Problems are easily solved during our busiest time at the office.

The end of month statement procedure took more time to generate initially than I thought appropriate. There have been continual improvements to that function.

We came from dentrix and i liked the icons across the top to access modules

Login in from anywhere. Flexibility and always evolving. Didn’t like windows updates

I would like to customize more, especially medical alerts. I don’t want to be notified unless something major in medical and I don’t want to check don’t ask again

Not good and we left and switched to Dentrix

Cloud based and not a lot of clicking to get through software.

It just was not ready to handle to the hustle and bustle of the day to day of a busy practice.

Ascend has made it possible to cross train our clinical staff through it’s intuitive design; and this has made our patient turnover very efficient, while reducing the need for addition front desk personnel.

This software saves countless hours of additional administrative work and processing mistakes. Our office switched from Eagle Soft, which we ran on a closed network, about 5 years ago; and after learning how to use theAscend software, I can honestly say that it was one of the best decisions that we have ever made for our practice.

There’s nothing that I don’t particularly dislike about the software. However, there is room for improvement with some of the newer features. For example, real time benefits along with automated verification and eligibility would make Ascend the perfect software, in my option.

We truly love the ease of this software, it's easy to learn, anyone new in the office is able to learn the system very quickly. For our office, it was a perfect solution, we have multiple locations and can quickly toggle between locations for scheduling and payment, it has made it extremely easy to oversee both locations. Another great aspect to this software, since it is web based they are able to continually update and make it even better, this has been great, we are happy with everything they have created!

There are several features we are really waiting for, an online time clock, and online RX.

I like that updates are somewhat frequent & it seems as though the developers really are pushing to make it a great system. However, it is apparent that the developers have not spent much time behind the scenes in a dental office. Some of the updates seem incomplete and/or rushed and we end up with more problems than solutions. I am still optimistic and hope that more updates and features are coming in the very near future!

It is nice to not have to worry about a server with a cloud based system. The imaging is impressive and easy to use. In time & with updates, Dentrix Ascend will be a great program.

Having to refresh Ascend multiple times throughout the day is stressful. Specifically, when there are changes in the schedule, a user may not see it for 30 minutes or longer because they have not refreshed the page. A cloud based system should always be current. Patient Forms are not something we can use because they can't be customized. Unfortunately, if you choose to use a form, it must go to every patient and you must use the developers content. I really wish the Patient Communications feature were better. I miss not having a way to automatically ask patients for reviews after appointments, it was our best marketing effort & now have no way of doing it. There is no way to send out an email campaign to several patients. An API is so important and it should be a top priority. Not being able to utilize 3rd party software or even customize what we are able to use in Ascend leaves us in an uncomfortable position. There are several aspects of various items missing or incomplete that are common sense in all other practice management software.

There is definitely room for improvement when it comes to functionality and user friendly options. I also feel simplicity is a must as well.

Customer service is good, any updates are easy to take care of. The patient scheduling is very easy to do, and I like the colors that you can choose from for different providers. I also like the Pinboard feature, it is very useful and handy. Reports are easy to run and very helpful and useful.

Not user friendly, dental charting can use some changes. Don't care for the x-ray component. There are way too many pop ups when you opening the patients chart and you have to navigate thru all of them every time the chart is opened which is a headache. Medical / Dental history has to be scanned into the chart and there should be an automatic form where information already gets populated into patient's chart, it would save time. Would love to have a split screen on one page when treatment planning, charting and viewing xrays so you don't have a open and close screens back and forth.

It takes 10 x longer to do anything in the front office. You cannot change insurance companies without going through 15 - 20 minutes of navigation, There is NO WAY to put a insurance information form on with the other 5 forms for the patient to fill out their own insurance information. You have to put the insurance address and telephone number in every time you put the insurance in, it does not do it automatically. The estimates are NEVER correct. The people that work there do not have a clue what they are doing. There is NOT one thing I like about this software

Nothing- There is Nothing I like- everything is so difficult to navigate, no one that works there knows anything about the software

Everything! I can't think of anything I like

It is so easy to use. You can request features that are often considered and implemented. The ongoing updates are great. Technical support is excellent.

The perio comparison chart is difficukt to read. The note that we set up for scheduling(i.e. provider request) does not pop up when the appointment is being made.

I was a long-time regular Dentrix user so when I branched out to open my own practice, I wanted something that was similar to what I was used to but also had even better perks! And I feel like we got just that with Ascend. It’s easy to use from any computer, laptop, iPad, phone or even from home. And the BEST part is they are always asking their current users what can be improved upon... they want their clients happy with Ascend! I love it.

Only a couple of cons... but I think that the Ascend software developers are currently working on these: No time clock within Ascend No lab case manager

Like the automated insurance verification and ease of claims submission

-ease of use -ease of training -integration of imaging -continuous improvement

-does not integrate with 3rd party applications well -would like to be able to open it to one patient instead of a Home Screen first

Scheduling patients is super easy for both new and existing patients. Switching between multiple practices is easy to do.

It would be great to reschedule a canceled appointment from one location to another.

Cloud storage with HIPPA compliance. Being able to access the complete software at off site . Constant new feature updates.

Lagging response due to internet speed and connection. Separate module for xrays

I purchased a satellite office from a retiring dentist. I am practicing 2 1/2 - 3 days a week by appointment only by myself (no staff). I can't imagine running the office without Dentrix Ascend. I worked as an associate for 16 years at a practice that used standard Dentrix. I keep telling my old boss to purchase Dentrix Ascend. They never uploaded the updates that came via disk, so they kept piling up. They did not want to pay for the IT guy to come to the office to update the system.

I love the automatic updates to features that pop up when I log in with full explanations available for me to choose when to watch.

I have no complaints about this software.

i really love the software hope they can make the reporting a little easier to work with.

i used to use so many plug ins application to do run the business the i wanted, but now i just have Dentrix Ascend and that can take care of all those thing for me. the ability to have access for any where and from any device is a blessing.

i would like to see more about reporting. its not as great as it was in the original dentrix software. but you can do a lot more with this one.

Ascend has been a great improvement to our office. It allows us to keep patient records, images, appointments, accounts, insurance tracking, etc. all in one place that is accessible even when we are not in office. We have remote employees and the ability for them to be able to work off-site while still having access to the information they need has been a huge help.

The software has a lot of capabilities and is very useful. The fact that it's cloud based is wonderful for convenience and accessibility when we're not in the office.

As with most newer programs, is a work in progress. It has it's limitations like any program but with that being said, they are always taking user input and continuously bringing out updates that cater the the needs of their user base and their customer service is particularly good.

We don't have to have multiple servers in each location.

Easy to navigate, fast response and download time, very straight-forward.

Subscription cost has gone up. Sometimes on Chromebooks, charts do not load correctly.

Before Dentrix we were a six office company, with six individual servers. They had no ability to communicate/share patient info. So we operated like six small offices. Ascend has allowed us to operate as one company, with six offices. For anyone looking to have a firm grasp of the business side of your business, Ascend is the software for you.

Ascend is easy to use, and very reliable. The reporting capabilities go above and beyond what you need, especially if you are a multi-location operation. And the fact that it is cloud based means you don't need to invest in servers or a lot of infrastructure. All you need is an internet connection.

Only small drawback is there is no lab case management feature, yet.

Overall a success. We are able to train staff efficiently, have multitiers of user management.

Works across the cloud and therefore can see all our locations by permission. Multiple ways to navigate patient records.

Stalling, slow downs, having to log out/close out and log in or refresh multiple times per day. Patient Health updates, Claim status information.

For the cost and the ability to use my laptop and PC at home I would recommend it to anybody in the medical or dental profession

I really like the ability to look at my radiographs and do my notes at home in case I didn’t have time to do my notes at the office it seamlessly works both in the office and at home or on my laptop when I am on vacation

You’re a really little cons with this product it matches well with the competition currently on the market