Can this be used in open dental for charting?

[fishdrzig]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0009RENH ... 00&sr=8-10

In case you can't open this link. It is a number pad with a usb wireless. Could put some barrier over it, place on the tray table and go. My hygienist doesn't always have someone to help her like I do.

[bpcomp]

That shouldn't be a problem at all. Really all what that product is, is a wireless keyboard that happens to only have the numberpad section. In essence your computer has two keyboards hooked up and you can input from either. Just be careful that you don't have to much interference or range between the computer and the keyboard.

[Rickliftig]

I've used them (the keypads) - they work fine, but someone still has to enter the numbers. You really need two hands to probe - one to steady the jaw and the other to probe. It's annoying to go back and forth. Plus, if you make an error in entry, you can't go backwards (easily). I think it's a little strange to have the patient try and enter the numbers while you are probing.

I still use a voice recorder and then transcribe later. There was a recent thread on Dentaltown about this and Lorne Lavine mentioned the Perio-pal product - a voice recognition perio charting program. Looks very interesting and it's inexpensive. It even comes with a one month trial. What makes me think it's a winner is that it is programmed to only translate a limited number of voice commands - all dentally related.

Another input device:
Jeff Clay has my old Dental RATT and likes it so much, he bought two more. my hygienists never put the time into learning how to use it, unfortunately.

best,

Rick

[enamelrod]

i downloaded periopal getting ready to install it. there seems to be a need to install it in xp mode on win 7 boxes? had no idea what this meant actually? i called the company and left a message.

ive used the wireless and wired version of this key pad. it works but does this weird annoying number keylock when you log off or restart the computer. So every time you do a win login the number lock is on and you have to remember to unselect it. Also you need to make sure usb hibernate is off because it will go to sleep and sometimes you have to "wake up" the computer for it to work

[jordansparks]

I think that means that you install it, and then you right click on the .exe and change the settings so that it uses XP mode.

[Jay]

There was a recent thread on Dentaltown about this and Lorne Lavine mentioned the Perio-pal product - a voice recognition perio charting program. Looks very interesting and it's inexpensive. It even comes with a one month trial. What makes me think it's a winner is that it is programmed to only translate a limited number of voice commands - all dentally related.

Some observations about PerioPal.

1. This voice recognition stuff works without much tweaking but the bridging with OD is problematic. We are trying to figure it out but I have a feeling this is not a big issue once it starts working.

2. The main drawback is that Perio-Pal requires its own MDB database which means you now have 3 databases to worry about: OD, Xray software and Perio-Pal. That's a lot of databases and for most people, in 3 different formats. If the software comapny goes down can we still retrieve data in the long run? The Perio-Pal people are aware of this anxiety and are happy to write a bi-directional bridge for OD (or any other practice management suite) that would save the Perio-Pal data as an OD Perio chart. That would be cool.

[Jay]

Ok, please post your Perio Pal stories if any. Still can't decide if this is a good idea so listening to someone else's experience will help.

[enamelrod]

jay which headphone set are you using.. I wanted a wireless one? any suggestions?

[Jay]

Andrea ANC700 and a Logitech model from Radioshack both work if you use Buddy 7G. But what about the separate database? Are you ok with that? We are still debating. I haven't tried wireless but the PerioPal people say it can't be done. See: the last question on http://www.periopal.com/faq-hardware.html#hardware10

Edit: Logitech h250. Please note that we are only experimenting with this and have not successfully implemented the product.

[bpcomp]

I know I've seen some offices use generic Dragon Diction Naturally Speaking for voice dictation of perio charting. Once you have it trained to your voice it's just 323's. No bridge required since it outputs strait text. This only concern I had when I was visiting those offices, is because of the volume you sometimes have to use to get the computer to recognize your voice (which might be solved with better hardware) there was some privacy concerns when your calling out 646's loudly.

[Jay]

Hmm...Dragon NS is expensive if you have many rooms. Also no free trial. PS: Giving up on PerioPal. Too many hoops to jump through means too many things can break.