Open Dentalgives you the database
1,400+ / 1,000+ shared queries
A standard MySQL/MariaDB database with a built-in User Query tool for what the standard reports do not reach, and a shared query library the vendor puts at over 1,400 on one page and over 1,000 on another
Dentrixgives you exports
schema not published
The database is proprietary and its structure private — Henry Schein One states it "does not share or divulge the data dictionary or schema". No owner-facing SQL tool: most reports save as PDF, a handful export CSV, and direct access runs through the licensed developer programme.
Both packages print much the same reports. The difference that decides whether you can ever trend them is what happens when you want the numbers outside the software: one gives you the database, the other gives you files. Either way the exports are enough to build the trend yourself.
The reports dental practices actually run
Both systems ship far more reports than anyone uses. The handful that earn their keep are the same in spirit — they just live under different menus.
Open Dental
Open Dental documents over 50 built-in reports, grouped in the Reports menu as Standard, Graphic, and User Query. The ones a practice owner actually opens:
- Production and Income — daily, monthly, annual and per-provider, splitting patient payments from insurance income.
- Aging of A/R and Insurance Aging — receivables by age bucket, and outstanding insurance claims over time.
- Lists — Active Patients, New Patients, Broken Appointments, Treatment Finder (unscheduled treatment), Referral Analysis.
- Graphic Reports — visual, per-provider or per-clinic views of production, A/R, new patients and broken appointments.
Dentrix
Dentrix spreads its reporting across the Office Manager and a newer Reports module. The workhorses, per Dentrix's own publications:
- Day Sheet — the end-of-day ritual: charges, receipts and production totals.
- Practice Advisor — the closest thing to a KPI report, covering production, collections, scheduling, case acceptance, hygiene/continuing care and new patients in one document.
- Provider A/R Totals and the Aging Report — gross and net production and collections, and receivables by guarantor.
- Dentrix Reports module (G7.8 and later) — 14 cleaner reports including A/R Trends, Adjustment Summary, Continuing Care Statistics and New Patient Summary.
The real difference: how you get your data out
This is the difference most comparisons skip, and it's the most consequential one for anyone who wants to track numbers over time.
Open Dental hands you the database
Open Dental runs on a standard MySQL/MariaDB database, and it's genuinely open to read. (The "open" is about that database access, not the price — the software itself is licensed.) It ships a built-in User Query tool to "retrieve information from the database that is not accessible through standard reports" — you "write your own query, then run and/or save it to your favorites," with a shared query library the vendor describes as over 1,400 on one page and over 1,000 on another. Permissions are tiered, so front-desk staff can run released queries while only an admin can write new ones.
It also documents ODBC access, which it describes as "a standardized data connection format which will allow all your data to be directly available to other programs without having to do an export first" — so "any program can then access the database including Word, Excel, Access, and OpenOffice.org" without an export step. And the policy is explicit: "Any third party is welcome to query the database as long as no writes are involved." (Writes are blocked outside the API — read access is the open part.) In practice, an Open Dental owner with admin rights can query the database directly, with one caution from the vendor: an unoptimised query can lock up every workstation in the office while it runs, so heavy queries belong out of hours or on a copy for most of what they need.
Dentrix hands you exports
Dentrix takes the opposite approach. Its database is proprietary and its structure is private: Henry Schein ONE states that it "does not share or divulge the data dictionary or schema." There's no built-in, owner-facing SQL tool. Getting data out means one of two things:
- Report exports. You can print or export any report; most save as PDF, and only a handful (such as the Provider Aging Report's "Generate Data File for Export") produce a CSV you can open in a spreadsheet.
- The licensed developer path. Direct database access exists, but only through the Dentrix Developer Program: a "signed application authenticates using the RegisterUser function, which allows GetConnectionString to return the credentials needed for ODBC access." That's built for software vendors, not for an office manager who wants a spreadsheet.
Open DentalGetting data outDentrix
MySQL / MariaDB, open to read
Underlying database
Proprietary; schema not published
Yes — built-in User Query (SQL)
Run your own queries?
Not for the owner; licensed program only
Documented, do-it-yourself
ODBC / connect Excel
Only via signed, licensed app
Direct DB read, or export any report
Practical export path
Report-by-report — PDF, some CSV
Where built-in reports run out of road
The built-in reports in both systems are good at what they're for — a snapshot for today or this month. They struggle at the thing owners actually want, which is watching a number move over time. The limits that matter:
- They're point-in-time. A report reflects the day only once the work is entered — the Day Sheet is literally an end-of-day report — so what you get is a snapshot, not a live feed.
- They're one-question-at-a-time. Production is one report, A/R another, new patients a third. Seeing them together — or seeing production against collections across twelve months — means re-running each report per period and stitching the results in a spreadsheet by hand.
- Trending is manual. Neither built-in report set gives you a rolling, cross-KPI view. Dentrix's Practice Advisor comes closest, but it's a static periodic document with vendor benchmarks baked in, not a dataset you can filter and trend yourself.
- Dentrix leans on PDF. Most reports export as PDF; the newer Reports module still exports PDF; CSV comes from specific reports such as Provider Aging, through Generate Data File for Export — just report-by-report and version-dependent, rather than a database you can query directly.
Don't get fooled by the benchmarks
One warning before you act on any of these reports. Dentrix's Practice Advisor prints benchmark statistics next to your own — and it's easy to read those as industry law. A certified Dentrix trainer writing in the vendor's own magazine is more careful, noting that the recommendations "vary based on the size of the practice and number of active patients." They're a starting reference, not a standard.
The classic example is the "case acceptance should be at least 85%" line you'll hear everywhere — a consultant target, not an independent measurement. The same goes for most operational standards in dentistry. We lay out which dental benchmarks are real (the ADA's macro data) and which are folklore in the dental KPIs guide. The short version: the comparison that holds up best is you versus you, over time.
Turning your exports into a trended dashboard
Here's the bridge the vendor pages rarely build. Whatever the reports can't do — trend, combine, compare — a dashboard does, and both systems can feed one. All it needs is a flat export of the basics: visits, appointments and providers. An Open Dental practice pulls that with a query or ODBC; a Dentrix practice exports the reports that offer CSV. Either way, the numbers land in the same shape.
From there it's the same fifteen-minute build we describe for any clinic in Power BI for clinics: drop the export in, and production, collections, no-shows and new patients sit on one screen, trended against your own history.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Open Dental ships a built-in User Query tool that lets you, in its own words, "retrieve information from the database that is not accessible through standard reports" — you write your own query, then run and save it. Permissions are tiered: most users run released queries, admins can write and edit them, and a separate Command Query permission is needed to run non-SELECT commands.
Yes. Open Dental documents ODBC access, which it describes as a "standardized data connection format" that makes "all your data … directly available to other programs without having to do an export first" — including Word, Excel and Access. Open Dental also states that "any third party is welcome to query the database as long as no writes are involved."
Yes, but the path is narrower. You can export or print any report — most save as PDF, and a handful (like the Provider Aging Report) can generate a CSV data file. Direct database access exists only through the Dentrix Developer Program: a signed, licensed application authenticates and is issued ODBC credentials. There's no built-in, owner-facing way to run your own SQL against Dentrix the way Open Dental allows.
No. Henry Schein ONE states plainly that it "does not share or divulge the data dictionary or schema." That's the core difference from Open Dental, which publishes its MySQL database and invites read-only queries. It doesn't mean you can't get Dentrix data out — it means you go through reports and the licensed developer program, not the raw tables.
Be careful with the round numbers. Dentrix's Practice Advisor shows benchmark statistics, but Dentrix itself notes the recommendations "vary based on the size of the practice and number of active patients" — a reference, not a law. The widely repeated 85% figure is a consultant target, not an independent standard. Track your own case acceptance over time instead; we cover the honest benchmark picture in our dental KPIs guide.
WRITTEN BY
Olha · clinic data analyst
I build the reporting our managers open every morning at a multi-branch medical clinic — and package it so other practices don't have to start from scratch.
Open Dental capabilities and quotes are taken from Open Dental's own manual and site. Dentrix report names and menu paths are drawn from Henry Schein ONE's official publications (Dentrix Magazine, the Dentrix blog and the Dentrix Developer Portal); exact menu locations can vary by Dentrix version, so confirm against your own install. Lucid Vitals is not affiliated with Open Dental or Dentrix / Henry Schein ONE.