Best EHR for Dental Practices in 2026
Top EHR and practice platforms for SMB dental practices, with recommendations based on clinical workflow fit, group scalability, deployment model, and revenue operations.
Our Top Picks at a Glance
CareStack
Cloud-native dental platform with integrated operations and strong multi-site growth support.
Denticon (Planet DDS)
Strong fit for practices moving from single-location to multi-site dental operations.
Curve Dental
All-in-one cloud dental system with a straightforward SMB onboarding profile.
Open Dental
Established dental platform with cloud and on-premise options for operational control.
Dentrix Ascend
Cloud option for dental groups that expect to scale operationally over time.
What Dental SMB Practices Should Prioritize
Dental organizations should evaluate platform fit around chairside workflow speed, treatment planning clarity, claims reliability, scheduling efficiency, and multi-location standardization potential. Many SMB clinics outgrow basic tools quickly, so growth-path readiness matters as much as current feature depth.
Core Evaluation Criteria
- Clinical workflow speed: charting and treatment plan steps should reduce chairside clicks, not add them.
- Billing and claims: insurance-heavy practices need dependable claims workflows and denial visibility.
- Scheduling and reminders: no-show prevention and schedule utilization are first-order revenue drivers.
- Multi-site operations: if growth is planned, verify org-level reporting and role controls early.
- Contract clarity: request written line items for implementation, imaging, integrations, and renewals.
Implementation Guidance
Pilot with one location first, validate front-office and billing workflows in production-like scenarios, then scale by playbook. This reduces rework and helps standardize scheduling, coding, and reporting across teams.
Bottom Line
For most SMB dental groups, cloud-native platforms with strong operational workflows and clean growth paths outperform legacy-heavy tools over a multi-year horizon.