Moving your practice to Sodlcs
The Sodlcs team moves your practice from its old software for you. Your part is to export your data and answer a few questions; we do the rest, check it with you before anything is added, and keep your old records safe the whole way through. This page explains every step, what we'll ask for, and how long it takes.
The steps, start to finish
Eight steps. The tags show who does each one.
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We set up your practice Sodlcs team
We create your practice in Sodlcs — set to your own time zone, so your opening hours, closed days and appointment times are all your local time — and send your practice administrator a personal setup link. Opening it lets them sign in with a passkey — the fingerprint, face or PIN on their own computer or phone, with no password to remember. The link works for 7 days; if it runs out, we send another.
Your administrator then adds the rest of your team from Sodlcs's Staff page.
We also start registering your practice's own texting number with the US phone carriers, which every business that texts its customers must do. We'll ask for your legal business name and EIN exactly as the IRS has them, your address and a contact email and phone. The carriers take about 5–8 weeks; until then your appointment reminders go by email, and nothing else waits for it. Patients will see a new number for your texts, so it's worth telling them when it's ready.
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You gather your exports Your practice
You export your data from your old software — the patient list first, then anything else you'd like to bring (history, balances, documents and x-rays, and so on). The section What to export lists exactly what we need. If you're not sure how, your software's support line can produce every one of these for you: the data belongs to your practice.
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You send them through a secure link Your practice
We send you a private upload link. It opens a page — no login needed — that shows what to send. Drag your files in, then click I've sent everything. Please never email patient data; see How to send it.
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We read and match your files Sodlcs team
We read every file and match each column of your old software to its place in Sodlcs — your old system's codes too (what "Pt-Inactive" or "Late Cxl" mean, which note categories are staff-only, which operatory is which). Anything your old system kept that Sodlcs has no field for is kept on the patient's chart as an extra detail, so nothing is left behind.
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We run a trial run and check it with you Together
Before anything is added we run a full dry run: it shows exactly what would come over and lists every problem — a patient with no date of birth, a code we couldn't read, an appointment for a patient missing from the export. We fix what we can and send you a short list of anything only you can answer.
The most common question is about possible duplicates: a patient in your export who looks like someone already in Sodlcs, or like another row. We never guess — a matching name alone is never treated as the same person — so we may ask you to confirm by birth date, phone or address.
If balances are coming over, we check that they add up to your old software's aging report to the cent, per age (current, 31–60 days and so on), before anything is brought over.
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We bring it over Sodlcs team
We take a backup of your practice's Sodlcs data and check that it restores. If it doesn't, nothing is imported. Then the import runs in the background. You can keep working in your old software meanwhile, and your team can already use Sodlcs.
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You check the result Together
We send you a report of what happened to every row of every file. Your team looks at a few patients they know well. If balances came over, your administrator confirms them in Sodlcs (Settings → Patients & communication → Switching over), against the same aging report.
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You switch over Your practice
On the day you stop using your old software, your administrator turns on We've switched over in the same place. Reminders, Portal access to brought-over records and balances begin then, so no patient is ever contacted or billed by both systems. See Switch-over day.
What we bring over
Bring as much or as little as you like. Each kind arrives where your team would expect it.
| Kind of data | Where it lands in Sodlcs |
|---|---|
| Patients | Name (with middle and preferred name), date of birth, gender, phone numbers, email, preferred language, address, Social Security number (stored encrypted), emergency contact and guarantor. Families share one billing account in the name of the person responsible for the bill. Medical alert, allergies, medications, medical notes and physician go into Medical history. Patients your old system marked inactive arrive archived — kept and searchable, just out of the everyday list. |
| Providers | Your current dentists and hygienists are matched to the people already in Sodlcs. Providers who have left arrive inactive: they can't sign in or be booked, but their past work stays in their name. |
| Insurance | Each patient's primary and secondary coverage on their chart. Insurance companies you don't have yet are added to your list. Coverage already entered in Sodlcs is never changed. |
| Appointments | Past visits, and future ones on the schedule. Reminders for brought-over appointments only start once you've switched over. |
| Completed treatment | Past procedures on the chart, with existing work and conditions. They're history: they don't create bills or insurance claims. |
| Recalls | Each patient's due dates for cleanings and exams, in continuing care. |
| Treatment plans | Plans keep their real status — accepted, presented, declined — and the fees agreed in your old software. Planned work can be billed once it's done in Sodlcs. Accepted plans without a signed consent appear on a Plans needing consent list. |
| Clinical notes | Signed, word for word, on the chart. Categories your office kept staff-only stay staff-only. |
| Balances | Each account starts with what it owed (or was owed) on the day you switch, split by age and by family member, with the part expected from insurance marked Insurance pending. Credits come over too. |
| Open insurance claims | A follow-up list for your team to work. They're never resubmitted; when an electronic remittance arrives for one, Sodlcs offers it to you — it never posts it by itself. |
| Payment plans | An alert on the chart and at check-out, so you keep collecting on them. |
| Old transactions | A read-only history at the bottom of each account, for reference. |
| Documents, x-rays and photos | Scanned paperwork, signed consent forms, referrals, insurance cards, x-rays and intraoral photos — each virus-checked. X-rays and photos go to Imaging, everything else to the chart's Documents, filed by type. Signed consent scans become signed consents on their treatment plan. |
| Communication log | The calls, letters, emails and texts your old software logged, as read-only history on each patient's chart. Entries your office marked internal stay staff-only. |
| Your old audit trail | Your old software's record of who looked at what, kept as a protected file for at least 6 years. Your administrator can download it and keep it longer. |
Values your old system had in a form Sodlcs can't use — a 7-digit phone number with no area code, a misspelled email — are kept on the chart as written, so nothing is lost; your team copies the right value in when they next speak to the patient.
What to export
Spreadsheet exports saved as CSV files (Excel: File → Save As → CSV), plus ZIP files for documents and images.
1. Your patient list (always needed)
One row per patient. Several files are fine — one per office, for example.
- Patient ID from your old software required
- First and last name required, with middle and preferred name if you have them
- Date of birth required
- Sex / gender
- Phone numbers and email, each in its own column
- Home address
- Preferred language
- Social Security number, if you keep it (stored encrypted)
- Active or inactive status
- Emergency contact
- Guarantor — ideally the guarantor's own patient ID: that's how families arrive on one account
- Medical alert, allergies, medications, medical notes and physician
Why the patient ID matters: it's how Sodlcs recognises a patient it has already brought over, so a second export never adds anyone twice, and how your history files find the right patient.
2. Anything else you'd like to bring
Each file just needs the patient ID (from list 1) on every row, so it lands on the right chart.
| Export | What it should include |
|---|---|
| Providers | Each provider's code or ID, name, whether they're a dentist or hygienist, and NPI if you have it. |
| Insurance | Per patient: insurance company, member ID, group number, plan name, primary or secondary, subscriber name, date of birth and relationship, coverage dates. |
| Appointments | Patient ID, date, start time, length or end time, provider, status (scheduled, completed, cancelled, no-show…), appointment type, operatory. |
| Procedures / treatment history | Patient ID, date, CDT code, tooth and surfaces, provider, status (completed, existing, condition, planned…), fee. |
| Recalls | Patient ID, recall type and due date (and interval if you have it). |
| Treatment plans | One row per plan line: plan ID and name, patient ID, status, dates presented and accepted, code, tooth, fee, insurance estimate, patient portion. |
| Clinical notes | Patient ID, date, category, author, the note text, and whether it was signed. |
| Aging report and balances | Your aging report as of the switch-over date, per patient or account: current, 31–60, 61–90 and over-90 amounts, with the insurance-estimate column if your report has one. Please also send the report's printed totals — we match them to the cent. |
| Open insurance claims | Claim number, patient ID, insurance company, date of service, date sent, amount billed, amount expected. |
| Payment plans | Patient ID, amount, how often (monthly, weekly…), next due date, balance left. |
| Transaction history | Patient ID, date, type (charge, payment, adjustment), description, amount. |
| Communication log | Patient ID, date and time, type (call, letter, email, text), sent or received, category, author, subject, and the note or message. |
| Documents, x-rays and photos | Your old software's document and image folders, as ZIP files of up to 2 GB each — as many as you need. If your software can also export its document list (which file belongs to which patient, with dates and categories), send that too; without it, we match files by your software's folder names and check the matches before anything is filed. |
| Audit trail | Your old software's audit trail or access log, in whatever format it produces. Export it before you switch the old software off. |
How to send it
Through the secure link we send you — never by email or a shared drive.
- We email you a private upload link. It opens a page with this checklist and a place to drop files. No login is needed; the link itself is the key, so don't forward it.
- Drag your files in: CSV files, and ZIP files of up to 2 GB each for documents and images. Each file is checked as it arrives, and you see it listed when it's safely stored.
- If you're sending your old audit trail, there's a separate place for it on the same page.
- When you're done, click I've sent everything. We're told straight away.
The link works for 7 days, for as many files as you need, until you click I've sent everything (or we start reading your files). If it runs out, or you find more files later, just ask for a new one. We can also send you the checklist on its own, before the link, so you can start gathering early.
How long it takes
Counted from the day we have your exports. Most of it runs in the background while you work.
| Your practice | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Up to about 10,000 patients, with history, balances and documents | The same day — reading and the trial run take an hour or two, the import about as long. |
| Around 100,000 patients with years of history (a million appointments, notes and plans) | About 2 days — reading and the trial run take most of a working day, the import a few hours more, and hundreds of thousands of documents and x-rays several hours on top. |
| Your own texting number (registered with the phone carriers) | About 5–8 weeks, started on day one alongside everything else — reminders go by email until it's ready. |
| Your calling number (so your dentists can call patients without showing their own cell) | A few seconds — your Admin or Office Manager clicks Set up calling in Settings → Communication (an Office Manager finds it under Settings → Patients & communication → Texting & calling numbers). The name patients see takes the phone networks about 1–2 weeks to list. |
| Answering our questions | Usually a short list. The move waits for your answers, so a quick reply keeps it on schedule. |
What usually takes longest is getting the exports out of the old software, especially if its support line has to produce them. Start on step 2 as early as you can — you can send files in several batches.
Switch-over day
The day your office stops using the old software. Your administrator does this in two minutes.
Until you switch over, everything we brought is visible to your staff straight away, but Sodlcs stays quiet towards patients about it: no reminders for brought-over appointments, no consent requests, no brought-over balances in the Patient Portal, on statements or in online payments. That way nobody is reminded, asked or billed by two systems at once.
- Your administrator opens Sodlcs → Settings → Patients & communication → Switching over from your previous software.
- If balances came over and aren't confirmed yet, they confirm them there first.
- They tick We've switched over and save.
- Then they choose what patients may see in their Portal from the old software:
- Documents — by kind (consent forms, x-rays, referrals…). Old systems often hold misfiled documents, so turn a kind on once you're confident in it.
- Past communications — by type (phone calls, letters, emails, texts). These logs often mention other people, so you choose. Entries marked internal are never shown.
Signed clinical notes and treatment plans show in the Portal as normal. You can change any of these choices later.
Your first weeks
A few short lists appear in Sodlcs only while they have something in them.
Imported files to match
Files we couldn't place on a chart with certainty wait here for your team to file. Nothing is attached by guesswork.
Plans needing consent
Accepted treatment plans brought over without a signed consent, so you can collect one at the next visit.
Insurance follow-up
Claims that were still open in your old software, oldest first, for your billing team to resolve as payments arrive.
From your old software
A card on the chart, titled with your old system's name (for example “From Dentrix”), with anything it kept that has no field in Sodlcs — read-only, labelled the way your old system labelled it.
Keep your old software readable for a while if you can, in case someone wants to look something up. When you're happy, tell us, and we'll release the original export files from our storage — after giving you a copy of anything that wasn't brought over, so it stays yours. Documents, x-rays and your old audit trail on the charts are never part of that release.
Your data is safe
The rule we built the move around: whatever happens, your practice never loses data.
- Checked before anything is added. You see the trial run first; nothing reaches your practice until it's reviewed and approved.
- A verified backup first. Your practice's Sodlcs data is backed up and test-restored before every import. If the backup can't be verified, nothing is imported.
- Undo without deleting. If an import ever has to be undone, what it added is taken out of use — never permanently deleted — and anything your team has already booked, billed, charted or edited is left exactly as it is.
- Your existing records are never overwritten. A patient who matches one already in Sodlcs is linked, and the record you had stays as it was.
- Every file is protected. Uploads go to encrypted storage, each is fingerprinted and read back to prove it arrived whole, documents are virus-checked, and the originals are kept until you confirm you no longer need them.
- Everything is recorded. Every step our team takes appears in your practice's Audit Log as Sodlcs team, with the team member's name.
- AI help never sees your patients. Our team can ask an AI to suggest how your old software's columns match Sodlcs. It only ever sees column names and short codes — never a patient's details — and nothing it suggests is used until a person accepts it.
Questions practices ask
Can we keep using our old software during the move?
Yes. Keep working as normal until switch-over day. If patients are added in the old software after your export, send us a fresh export and we'll bring over just the new ones — patients already brought over are recognised by their ID.
Will patients get reminders or bills from both systems?
No. Brought-over appointments get no reminders, and brought-over balances reach statements and the Patient Portal, only after you turn on We've switched over.
Do we have to bring everything?
No. Many practices start with patients, insurance and balances, and add history or documents later. Each round recognises what an earlier one brought.
What if a patient appears twice, or matches someone we already added?
We never merge anyone by guesswork. A possible duplicate is shown to our team side by side, and if we're unsure we ask you. When it is the same person, the existing record is kept exactly as it was.
What if something looks wrong after the import?
Tell us. We can correct it, or undo that import completely — taken out of use, never deleted — fix the cause and bring it over again. Anything your team has already used since is left alone.
What happens to rows that couldn't come over?
They're listed in the report with the reason. Before we release your original files, you get a copy of everything that wasn't brought over, in your old software's own wording, so nothing is lost.
How are balances checked?
Against your old software's aging report, per age and to the cent, before anything is brought over. After the import your administrator sees Sodlcs's totals next to the report's and confirms them; only then can you switch over.
Our documents are scattered over folders. Is that a problem?
Usually not. Send the folders as ZIP files. If your software has a document list we use it; otherwise we match by its folder names, preview the matches and check them before anything is filed. Anything we can't place with certainty goes to a list for your team instead of onto a chart.
Who at Sodlcs can see our data?
Only Sodlcs team members with an operator account — each with their own passkey sign-in, never a shared password — and every step they take is in your Audit Log under their name.
Who do we contact?
Your Sodlcs onboarding contact — the person who sent you your setup and upload links. Reply to any of their emails.