1-17-17 Update:
The purpose of this page is to consolidate all the various sources of files and information about the new, free, Open Dental plug-in that allows voice entry for perio charting. This is not an official Open Dental product but was written as an open source plug-in by one of Open Dental’s software engineers, Chris McGehee. (I hereby nominate him for the Nobel Prize in Dentistry – as soon as they get one!)
As you can see from the brief video below, it works! I have been playing with voice entry charting for at least 20 years and spend a fair amount of money trying to find something I could really use for perio charting. This is the first one that I have seen that seems to fulfill all the requirements:
- no equipment needed; all software
- works with all the microphones I have tried (total of only 3; two wired and one wireless)
- no training required – works “out of the box” – although you can train it if it does not recognize all your commands (see below)
- repeats back in the headset what it heard you enter (the pockets) and your position on the perio chart (tooth number)
- totally hands-free – can navigate, start and stop with only your voice
- did I mention its free?
Here are some useful links relating to this plug-in:
- Download page
- Voice training page
- Open Dental perio charting from manual
- Open Dental webinar on perio charting
- Link to pdf file of voice commands you can use (created by Rick Liftig, DMD FAGD)
Bonnie the hygienist is a soprano and the the perio chart voice recognition didn’t not pick up 100% of her charting until she did the retraining (see link #2 above). She simply read a paragraph and – presto! – got 100% accuracy! Only problem – and this is the reason for this addendum – she retrained without her mask! She had to retrain a second time with her mask on. Good thing it was fast and easy cuz Bonnie is a little temperamental – she is a hygienist, you know! 🙂