What ClearDent, Dentrix and Open Dental can and can't do for lab cases

ClearDent, Dentrix and Open Dental can each log a lab case against the patient and the appointment it is for. For a practice that sends a few cases a week to one lab, that covers the job.

None of the three, on its own, lets the lab update the case. The status is as current as the last person at the practice who typed it in. The one exception is Dentrix with Henry Schein’s DDX service, where a lab on DDX can send status updates into the appointment.

Everything below comes from each vendor’s own website, documentation or release notes, checked in November 2026. A feature that could not be verified there is left out.

What each package’s lab tracking does

ClearDent

ClearDent, sold in Canada in on-premise and cloud editions, builds lab tracking into the chart and the schedule.

Its cloud features page says you can “create lab prescriptions directly within a patient’s chart” and “easily track the case status to ensure everything is ready for their appointment.” The schedule can send “notifications for important details like medical conditions, allergies, required pre-medications and lab case progress.”

The on-premise edition describes the same: a lab prescription created in the chart, with the case status tracked so it arrives before the appointment, and alerts on the schedule for lab case status.

ClearDent treats the feature as worth teaching. Its Lab Management class covers creating lab prescriptions, attaching lab details to appointments, tracking lab orders so they return in time, and a lab tab on the Today screen. A tip post shows how to “create, attach, and track lab appointments.”

What is recorded, per ClearDent’s own glossary: the lab name, the type of case and the dates, with reminders on the schedule for when a case is due back.

Dentrix

Dentrix G7 is the version sold in Canada, and its Lab Case Manager has been in the product for years.

Dentrix’s own guide walks through it. Open the appointment, tick Lab Case, and create the case with the lab, the shipping method and a tracking number. Link it to the appointment, and a small blue “L” appears on the appointment block. When the case comes back, staff mark it received and the icon’s background turns green.

The Lab Case Manager lists cases with their lab and due date. The Dentrix Canada team advises hiding finished cases from the default view so the list opens faster, which tells you it fills up over time.

Dentrix also connects to DDX, Henry Schein’s web-based lab platform. The Dentrix G7.6 release for Canada lists DDX lab integration. DDX’s Dentrix page says it fills the DDX prescription from the patient’s Dentrix record, attaches the case to a future appointment, and will “automatically update the case status in the Dentrix patient appointment as DDX captures those updates automatically from your lab.” Dentrix’s DDX article adds that the “L” icon changes colour with the DDX status and that staff are alerted when a case looks likely to miss the appointment.

That only works when the lab is on DDX. We could not confirm from Henry Schein’s Canadian pages that DDX is offered to Canadian practices, so ask your Dentrix representative and your lab.

In August 2025, Henry Schein launched LinkIt for Dentrix in the United States and Canada. The press release describes entering case details once in Dentrix and launching scanning software from it, with integrations for Planmeca, Medit and Dentsply Sirona’s DS Core, which Dentsply Sirona says covers “sending lab cases.” The release does not describe lab status tracking, so we make no claim about it.

Open Dental

Open Dental is one product everywhere, with a Canadian setup certified for CDAnet claims. Its lab case feature is documented in the public manual.

A Lab Case records the lab, the patient, the provider and the appointment it is attached to. The due date can be calculated from the lab’s turnaround, skipping weekends and holidays, or typed in. Staff record the dates the case was sent, received and quality checked. Instructions print on a lab slip, which can be printed, emailed or saved as a PDF.

The case can be shown on the appointment in the schedule, and cases not attached to any appointment appear in a separate list. A lab fee can be recorded, for tracking only.

What they have in common

In all three, the lab case is a record the practice keeps about something the lab is doing. Someone at the practice creates it, someone updates it, and someone marks it received.

The lab never sees that record. It works from the slip, the scan and whatever arrived with them. When the lab’s plans change, the practice finds out by phone or by text, and then types the change in.

That is the design, and it suits a practice that sends a few cases to one lab it knows well. The person who takes the lab’s call is usually the person who updates the case, and the gap between the two is minutes.

Dr. Joel Gaudet, the dentist who founded Tusko, describes what the typing feels like from the chair:

“Even though I’m a millennial, I really don’t like spending time on the computer zipping up files, emailing them, typing it all out, then typing that name into another spreadsheet.”

Dr. Joel Gaudet, Wave Dentistry

What none of them do

Four things are missing from all three, as documented, and the first is the one that matters.

Practice software and a shared case

Two columns side by side. Practice software, as documented by ClearDent, Dentrix and Open Dental: the practice enters the status; the lab does not see the record; questions travel by phone, text or email; cases from several labs sit in one list only if the practice types each one in; readiness against the seat date depends on what the practice last entered. A shared case: the lab updates the stage itself; both sides see the same case; questions sit on the case with the patient; every lab is in one view; the due date and the seat date sit together.

Practice software

As documented, November 2026

• No: The practice enters the status
• No: The lab does not see the record
• No: Questions travel by phone, text or email
• No: Every lab in one view, if staff type each case in
• No: Readiness is what the practice last entered

A shared case

One record, both sides

• Yes: The lab updates the stage itself
• Yes: Both sides see the same case
• Yes: Questions sit on the case with the patient
• Yes: Every lab in one view
• Yes: The due date and the seat date sit together

The lab updating the status. The lab knows when a case went into production, when it is ready and when it left. In the three packages, that knowledge reaches the practice only through a call, and then a keystroke. Dentrix with DDX is the exception, for labs on DDX.

Questions tied to the case. A shade question or a margin question is a message somewhere else: a text to the dentist, an email to the front desk, a voicemail. The practice software has a lab case and a chart, and the question is in neither. How a front desk handles lab cases shows how much of the day that takes.

Every lab in one view. Each package lists the practice’s lab cases, and it lists them as the practice entered them. A case that was sent on a paper slip and never typed in is in no list at all.

Readiness checked against the seat date. Each package can show a due date, and Dentrix with DDX can warn when a case looks late. None of them is told by the lab that the case is ready. The practice learns that at pickup, or when the patient is in the chair. Protecting chair time from late lab cases covers what that costs.

When your practice software is enough

The built-in feature is enough more often than a software vendor will admit. It is enough when:

• the practice sends a few cases a week, to one or two labs;
• one person at the practice owns lab cases, and updates them the same day;
• the lab calls or emails when a case runs late, and that works;
• the seat appointment is booked after the lab confirms the due date, not before.

A practice in that position should use what it pays for, and set it up well. How to track dental lab cases explains the fields that matter and the habit of checking the list each morning, and the lab case tracking sheet is a paper fallback for the cases the software never saw.

Signs you have outgrown it

• Someone calls a lab every day to ask where a case is. The status in the software is a guess, and the call is the real system.
• Questions arrive by text on a personal phone, and the answer never reaches the chart.
• You use three or more labs, and no screen shows all their cases together.
• A patient has been seated for a case that was not back, more than once this year.
• The scanner’s portal has become the tracker. It shows the scan was sent and nothing after. Scanner portal or shared case explains the difference.

Any one of these is a sign the practice has more lab traffic than one person can retype.

Questions to ask your vendor

Ask these of your current vendor before you add anything, and ask them again of anything you consider adding.

• Can the lab see the case, and can the lab change its status?
• Where does a question about the case live, and can the dentist see the answer later?
• Can I see every open case, from every lab, in one list, sorted by seat date?
• Does the case warn me when the due date is after the seat appointment?
• Does it work alongside my practice software, or does it expect me to move?

A tool that answers the first question with “the practice” is a tracker for your own notes, which may be all you need.

Where a shared case fits

Tusko runs alongside practice software, as the place the lab and the practice both open. The lab updates the case itself, questions sit on the case with the patient, and every lab the practice uses is in one place. The appointment stays in your practice software, where it belongs.

See how it works for practices.

Something out of date? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll fix it.

ClearDent, Dentrix and Open Dental are trademarks of their respective owners.