Flex Learning Hub

The Open Dental Advantage: Why Flex is the #1 Patient Communication Choice

Written by Team Flex | April 1, 2021

Here’s a quick rundown on what makes Flex unique among patient communication solutions for Open Dental. Get your track shoes laced up - we’re going fast.

We know there are lots of patient communication companies out there and it can be difficult to determine the differences between providers. At Flex, we like to think we do things a little bit outside of the typical “dental industry box.” From the beginnings of our company to some features that you won’t find in any other patient communication software, Flex has a history of marching to the beat of our own drum. Fortunately, the beat seems to be catchy enough where people don’t mind joining us on our journey.  

What’s The Difference Between Flex and Other Patient Communication Software?

While some software is developed out of a highly strategic business plan built around feedback from focus groups to determine “the next big thing,” others start small, only given life out of a desire to solve a problem. Flex is the latter. 

It Was Designed From Scratch For Open Dental 

If you don’t know the history of Flex, I’ll give you the very abridged version. Our CEO, Brennon Dean, and his wife, Dr. Jennifer Dean, were building a scratch startup practice outside San Diego and couldn’t find a patient communication software that did everything their practice needed (and did it well) while integrating with Open Dental. So Brennon, a software developer with a knack for building things, decided to write his own program and, hence, Flex was born. 

You might be saying, “Big deal. Lots of people write software. How does that make Flex different?” Well, I’m glad you asked. Flex is different because it was built from scratch for Open Dental practice management software. 

If you’re using Open Dental, what does this mean for you? It means that every single feature of Flex was developed through the lens of how it will interact within Open Dental, so you won’t find a tighter integration anywhere. There wasn’t any reverse engineering to make our solution work with Open Dental . . . it was designed that way from the start.

It’s Flexible

Flex is not just a clever name . . . it’s got extreme flexibility (or Flex-Ability for lovers of dad jokes) and is highly customizable for your practice, even specialty practices. And, because it's browser-based, it runs on just about any device you'd like - PC, Mac, smartphones, tablets . . . you name it. 

It’s Simple

Don’t let its good looks fool you. While Flex has a slick user interface, it’s incredibly intuitive and easy to use. Our developers wanted to strike a balance between technology that is both useful AND user-friendly. It’s simple to learn and quick to get up and running for your practice. 

It’s Advanced

We designed Flex to have a simple, user-friendly interface that powers cutting-edge features you’ll only find here. 

What features are exclusive to Flex? Here are a few:

  • FlexSchedule, our intelligent online scheduling solution, automatically syncs scheduled appointments to Open Dental in real-time, so there’s no delay between when a patient books on your site and updates to the appointment book in Open Dental. You can also “weigh” appointment times in FlexSchedule, so you can give preference to what appointment times are offered to your patients first.
  • Our treatment planning module allows you to present treatments with integrated payment options. Once your patient selects their payment choice, Flex will automatically update the treatment plan. Once finished, that specific plan will be marked as signed in Open Dental and automatically stored as a PDF in the images folder.
  • FlexPay online payments immediately records all transaction details in the patient's account in Open Dental, allocating to each individual procedure code whether paying on a past due balance or proposed treatment plan -- another Flex exclusive.

And there are many more where those came from. We take pride in finding elegant solutions to time-intensive, complex problems, so you'll get lots of functionality with Flex that you won't find anywhere else.

The Customer Experience

Our entire team loves talking about Flex and working with our customers - it’s what we do day-in and day-out. Our team knows that Flex gives Open Dental practices the opportunity to make their day-to-day operations more efficient while also simplifying complex tasks into routine, automated operations managed by Flex. We also know that our company is only as good as the service we provide - developing great software only goes so far if the service and customer experience don’t live up to expectations. 

I live in Atlanta, the home of many large corporations, including Chick-fil-A. Hopefully, you’ve had the pleasure of visiting a Chick-fil-A restaurant because there’s a reason I’ve specifically mentioned them. While the food at Chick-fil-A is very good, every time I go to my local Chick-fil-A, the service is outstanding. I think more and more people go there just as much for the service as they do for the food. Memorable, next-level service is one of the traits Chick-fil-A has become known for and for good reason. 

Recently, I was forwarded a discussion posted on a well-known online industry community, where one of our customers referred to Flex as the “Chick-fil-A of dentistry.” I’ll let that statement speak for itself. We want all of our customers to share that sentiment and have an experience they'll want to tell others about.

Transparent Pricing

If you’re like me, you just want to know the bottom-line cost of anything you buy. I don’t want to haggle over pennies or find out later that I’ve got a nice surprise waiting on me in the form of a hidden fee or an expense I wasn’t aware of. These are some of the fastest ways for any company to lose my business. At Flex, the price on our website is what you pay - we believe honesty and transparency builds better customer relationships.

You know what else? We don’t do sales or promos. We hate the idea of any of our customers having buyer’s remorse because they missed out on an “end-of-year sale” or “trade show pricing.” We’ll give you our best price up front each and every time. It’s kind of our thing. 

What’s Different About Flex? 

Flex combines easy to use, highly-customizable patient communication software, deep integration with Open Dental, a set of features that you won’t find anywhere else, and service that is the buzz of online message boards and Facebook groups alike. Our transparent approach to pricing lets you know you’re getting our best offer 24/7/365 and our no-pressure approach to your journey from shopper to customer allows you to make a decision on your time, whenever the time is right. 

Ready to learn more about Flex?

If you’re an Open Dental user looking for a patient communication solution, please ask for opinions of our solution from other Open Dental practices. We pride ourselves on creating Flex fans for life. The words of our customers are our best reference and we think you’ll like what you find.

Our team members are all what we affectionately call “Flex-perts” and make it a priority to address all requests quickly and knowledgeably. If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please click the button below and submit your questions online. A member of our team will connect with you shortly and help you understand the value that Flex can bring to your practice and your patients.