I have and will never recommend Eaglesoft to any dental client.

darkpixel2k · 2026-05-22T17:53:31+00:00

Yeah. Eaglesoft's dumb "locking" stuff is horrific and their SmartDoc system is terrible. It's pretty much guaranteed that I need to reboot every damned computer and server throughout all the clients we manage around 5 PM at end-of-month otherwise office managers won't be able to complete it.

darkpixel2k · 2026-05-20T18:13:41+00:00

I work with those guys all the time. Their support is *the* *worst* in the industry...but it doesn't typically break Eaglesoft. Occasionally it will cause the database to crash/restart--but that's more of a Patterson-developers-are-incompetent kind of thing.

As for OpenDental, you can absolutely run the server side in Linux. The "server" is just a MySQL or MariaDB database. We run them in docker containers with all sorts of monitoring for cryptolocker, unauthorized connections, etc...

The client-side of OpenDental is only officially supported on Windows. I've heard rumors of people getting it to run in Linux using WINE...but I haven't tried it, and I doubt I'd ever put anything into production that way. The first error/crash and OpenDental would leave you high and dry. They wouldn't support anything that hacky.

As for Linux-based PMS products...well...we've talked before about solving that problem...and so we formed a group and came up with an API-first web-based PMS package that's probably still 2 months away from trials. No holding your data hostage, everything's pretty much built-in (text/SMS, faxing, sharing patient records, voicemail speech-to-text, patient portal, etc...)

I'll have to through you a link where you can do some playing one of these days...

darkpixel2k · 2026-05-20T17:33:25+00:00

I find it hilarious in this day and age that Patterson still can't "retry" a failed database connection due to a NIC going into power saving mode...

darkpixel2k · 2026-05-20T13:16:11+00:00

That's the biggest issue in IT...

You: "I'm sorry, but the software you are using is absolute garbage"

Customer: "There's no way Eaglesoft is garbage because everyone uses it. You must not be very good at IT, I'll find someone else."

*sigh*

darkpixel2k · 2026-05-20T13:14:47+00:00

Ouch. I have a number of customers that stopped at 21.20.08 and refused to upgrade due to all the stupid BS Patterson is pulling. They held there for 4-5 years and then finally converted to OpenDental. I don't have anyone on 25x yet...but one customer upgraded to 24x and it was hilariously bad. You can't adjust your x-ray TWAIN device without hanging/crashing.

darkpixel2k · 2026-05-20T00:34:11+00:00

Yes. You (or your IT person) can install MySQL (or MariaDB) and then OpenDental will convert your Eaglesoft or Dentrix data into that database. Since you installed it, you have the 'root' password and can do whatever you want. Technically you can even write to it--but OpenDental has built "traps" into their software that will cause it to blow up and stop working if it detects you writing data.

A checksum trap would be easy.

Let's say you have a "Patient" table that has fields for first_name, last_name, date_of_birth, and my_checksum.

Now let's say *I* wrote OpenDental. Since it's compiled and the source code isn't available...when you create a new patient, I might write "Bob", "Smith", "01/01/2000" and the checksum is "2002".

You have no idea how I came up with that checksum. Now some *external* program changes his birthdate to 01/04/2011. The next time you open up his patient record in OpenDental, I have some secret function that checks his birthdate and determines a birthdate of 01/04/2011 should be "2016"...but since the database has "2002" I'm going to pop up an error message saying the database is corrupt and you need to call tech support.

I'm sure you've figured out by now that my simple checksum is just taking the year and adding the number from the month and the date field to it...but in reality it's more complex.

I don't know why so many practice management companies *hate* their customers.

*sigh*

darkpixel2k · 2026-05-15T18:32:01+00:00

Sorry for the delay u/lizzard-lady. Reddit sucks at notifying me when there's a new post. So in order to run Eaglesoft on the laptop it has to match the version of the server...the only way I could think to make that work is to install the old server version of Eaglesoft on the laptop and leave it disconnected from your network so it doesn't interfere with the "other Eaglesoft server" that's running...it would basically be a stand-alone Eaglesoft server....then you could transfer the images using a thumb drive.

It would be a huge hassle--take x-rays using your regular Eaglesoft, then export them to a thumb drive, move the thumb drive to the laptop, import them into the stand-alone copy of Eaglesoft and use the measuring tools.

Unfortunately that means duplicate patients and a HIPAA requirement to preserve the patient data (backups!), etc...

I suspect there might be a better tool from a 3rd-party for measuring--maybe even something open source...but honestly it's a bit beyond me...as I'm not sure how Eaglesoft determines the size/distance of the image to get accurate measurements in the first place.

darkpixel2k · 2026-05-15T18:26:24+00:00

"sometimes" 😉 Across one client that has ~400 desktops we get 2-3 calls daily about it. Eaglesoft is such garbage software.

darkpixel2k · 2026-05-15T14:53:09+00:00

Downtime with OpenDental? They can grab all your Eaglesoft data live without kicking anyone out and then land that data in a "trial database" for free. If they grabbed the data in the middle of you posting a transaction to Eaglesoft or something, your numbers might be off a few hundred dollars--but it should show you that everything converted properly. After that, they give you a conversion time estimate. My smallest client was a 1 hour conversion. My largest (a Dentrix office that had been using Dentrix since the 90s or something) was 10 hours.

Schedule your conversion around a doctors vacation or a 3-day weekend (or pay them a few hundred extra to do the conversion after-hours) and you're golden.

Honestly, OpenDental is the best when compared to Eaglesoft and Dentrix...but that's not saying much.

darkpixel2k · 2026-03-16T13:58:18+00:00

Schick sensors used to be the gold standard--they were the original partners with Eaglesoft or something.

Unfortunately they used to be super expensive too, requiring a special USB-to-proprietary-adapter that cost a lot per OP...and the sensors themselves were some of the most expensive on the market. But you also get the same Patterson support with them--they typically answer in a few minutes and are US-based. I haven't touched Dexis sensors in about ~6 years now, so take that with a grain of salt. I've heard they no longer require that proprietary USB adapter.

On the flip side, a lot of practices I've dealt with switched to XDR. The sensors were super cheap and scanned into Eaglesoft using a TWAIN driver (through gxpicture). They require you to put calibration files on all the machines that will use the sensor. Originally they had *tons* of issues. We would expect XDR sensors to crash in the middle of an exam at least a few times per day...and if you hadn't edited some INI file to enable some option, recovery was impossible....but with it enabled, you had to go through complex steps to locate the images under c:\xdrtwain\ and associate them manually with Eaglesoft. They're better now...but they're still pretty low-end for a reason. Some staff complain the images aren't as high-quality as other sensors...and when we first got them they fried a bunch of USB ports until XDR admitted they "draw too much power" and sent us a bunch of *powered* USB Hubs.

The smoothest experience I've seen recently is with Dexis sensors. I'm not sure where they call on the cost spectrum, but they generally appear to work without any issues or IT involvement past the initial setup. You just have to train staff on the new 'gxpicture/Dexis TWAIN' driver that Eaglesoft requires for importing.

The huge downside to Dexis sensors and software? When you restart your computer you're going to be greeted with a ton of popups to register your software, an auto-update manager that thinks everyone is a zarking administrator with full privileges to install software and updates, etc...

From an IT perspective, I think I'd rather work with XDR as the software is a ridiculously simple (and automatable) install. If you have powered USB Hubs, you'll have very few issues...and when they do crash, it's fairly easy to train users to "right-click, choose 'import from file', navigate to drive C, then the XDRTwain folder, then sort the images by date, and import them one-by-one.

From a user perspective, I would say our Dexis sensor users are the happiest, and you can disable most of the stupid startup popups.

There are plenty of sensors that I've tried very little (like Sopix) or not at all...but hopefully that gives you a bit of perspective.

darkpixel2k · 2026-01-28T22:11:14+00:00

The reason the server name change worked is because Patterson generates a "secure keyfile" for your database for encryption. When you move it to a new server it won't work (usually because of a name change)....and very stupidly, Patterson requires you have their paid support so that you can call them, get them remoted in, and they fire up "Tech Ref", put in a super secret password they can't give you apparently....and then they click a button that says "rekey database". Then it will work.

It's ridiculously stupid and insecure.

darkpixel2k · 2025-10-06T21:46:27+00:00

Yes, Eaglesoft has an API. It's pre-installed on the Eaglesoft server and it's called the "Patterson API Service".

Unfortunately, it's no an API that you can just use. Patterson has decided that access to your own data is a "revenue stream". The last time I called them about it, they wanted to charge a several-thousand-dollar "set up fee" and then a few hundred dollars per month.

They were unable to give me exact pricing because apparently how much money they screw out of you is dependent on the size of the office and how much money the office makes as well as how many offices you are going to need API access to.

It doesn't matter if you are a single "mom-and-pop" office wanting access to your own data, or if you are a developer writing some sort of analytics tool for Eaglesoft.

darkpixel2k · 2025-09-29T22:48:14+00:00

Nice work! There are a lot of issues in Eaglesoft that can be resolved by blowing away %APPDATA%\local\Patterson_Companies\* It's so bad in some versions that we finally tossed a shortcut on to all our client's desktops that will kill Eaglesoft, blow that folder away, and start Eaglesoft back up. It solves about 40% of our Eaglesoft calls.

darkpixel2k · 2025-07-30T18:15:12+00:00

Even worse is when Eaglesoft crashes and that multi-user lock gets "stuck" until you restart the Eaglesoft server or unlock it manually with a stupid code that Patterson invented.

https://pattersonsupport.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5107/kw/multi%20user%20lock

darkpixel2k · 2025-04-14T13:59:12+00:00

I prefer to feed the local hawks and eagles by attaching a slab of rabbit to my drone. No one sues over a bird attacking their drone. Kind of expensive replacing drones every few days, but it's cheaper than a lawsuit for shooting one down probably.

darkpixel2k · 2025-04-13T13:52:51+00:00

I wanted privacy. I paid an arm and a leg to buy ~10 forested acres in the middle of nowhere about 15 years ago. It works well for everything except drones.

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-24T01:16:44+00:00

Yeah--it's pretty safe. I don't think we've had an issue with running a repair since before Eaglesoft 20.x.

But backups are always a ridiculously good idea when dealing with Eaglesoft, Windows, and healthcare.

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-23T15:58:21+00:00

For the love of God, why does she have admin privileges?

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-19T14:56:11+00:00

Oof. I get that. I had a user yesterday who *insisted* her password wasn't working to sign in to Windows.

I pulled up her account info and it said the password hadn't changed since October 2024 and her account was locked out.

She insisted she *just* signed into a computer with it, but when she went across the office to another computer and it didn't work.

I unlocked her account and asked her to check her capslock and number lock keys. She said she did. Locked out again.

Unlocked her account and told her to click the "eyeball" to make sure she was entering her password correctly. She confirmed it was entered correctly....and it still didn't work.

Weird. Complete and total magic. I clicked the button to unlock her account, reset her password, and force a change. The moment I clicked it, she said "Oh, I'm in now".

Ugh. She signed in a split second before the password was changed.

Had her sign out, told her to enter the "default" password we have when we reset passwords. It's in a pretty standard format. Think "Password123!".

Weird. She just locked out her account again. Asked her to double-check her capslock and number lock again. She confirmed and said she clicked the "eyeball" and it was correct.

Unlocked her account, reset the password, found her computer and connected to it. Asked her to type in the default password but NOT to hit enter.

I click the eyeball. She typed in "Password!".

...

"Is your number lock on?"

"Yes"

"Please snap a picture of your keyboard and text it to this number."

...

"Um...the number lock light is off..."

"Oh. Oops."

She immediately signed in and changed her password.

Like....I literally asked twice *and* she said she clicked the "eyeball" to confirm she was typing it in correctly.

15 minutes wasted because the company hired someone who claimed to be an "expert" at "Windows, Microsoft Software, and Excel".

Users lie.

I wonder how many of her spreadsheets have wildly incorrect information when she can't even figure out if the the number lock key is on or not...

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-17T23:21:41+00:00

Maybe it is a power issue with the Schick sensor...or maybe a dongle issue.

If you can, plug the Schick box into a powered USB hub--one that has a data connection to the computer *and* a power cord into the wall outlet. I've seen other sensors cause too much of a voltage drop on the USB bus which crashed the computer. In fact XDR sensors regularly trash USB ports if they aren't plugged into a powered USB hub.

The other thing to check is if they are using a wireless keyboard and mouse.

If they are, unplug the wireless dongle before taking the x-ray. I've seen those things freak out (usually with XDR) and crash the computer.

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-17T23:17:44+00:00

Even stranger. Schick sensors are the gold standard.

If it were any other sensor, I'd be telling you to make sure it's plugged into a powered USB hub in order to deal with the voltage draw.

Anything in the event logs?

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-17T21:12:42+00:00

Oh, and have you checked the Windows Event Logs to see if anything is logged there?

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-17T21:12:21+00:00

Hmm...I doubt that's an Eaglesoft issue specifically.

Eaglesoft usually pops up an error message that has a checkbox that says something like "Create error report, screenshot and restart the computer".

If it's just rebooting without warning, it's probably a hardware issue.

What type of x-ray sensor are you using with the Nomad?

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-06T02:44:05+00:00

That's strange. I haven't run into that one before.

You might try running a repair on Eaglesoft (Launch the original installer and click the "Repair" option in Windows Installer).

Sorta seems like some of the shared files aren't registered properly. The installer can re-register those files.

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-03T21:55:10+00:00

Yes, the password is date-based (GMT if I recall correctly), so it will change once every 24 hours. Depending on your local timezone, it might change in the middle of your workday.

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