Getting started with Smile Plan
Smile Plan turns your treatment plan into a chart, photos and a cost estimate that patients understand. Set it up once, then each new patient takes a few minutes.
Open the chart
Double-click the newest Smile Plan Chart file (for example Smile Plan Chart v9.html) to open it in Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge on your computer. Keep this guide in the same folder so the Guide button works.
Always open the chart from the same file in the same browser. That is where your patients are kept.
Set up your clinic (once)
Click Settings.
- Clinic: name, phone, address, logo, clinic colour, default dentist, how many days prices are valid, and the language patients see first. These appear on every PDF and patient page.
- Phases: click + Add phase to add your own phases (up to 8), and rename any phase (for example "Urgent care" → "Emergency visit") (for example "Urgent care" → "Emergency visit") in English and Arabic, with a short line explaining each one to the patient. The new names show for every patient, in the plan, the patient page and the PDF. Empty a box to go back to the original wording. Only the last added phase can be removed; its treatments move to the phase before it.
- Treatments & prices: enter your prices. Use the back-tooth column when premolars and molars cost more. Change the default phase of any treatment. Hide a treatment you don't offer for now, or Delete it (click twice) to take it off the list. Plans that already have a deleted treatment keep it, and Restore at the end of the list brings it back. Drag a treatment by ⠿ to change its place in the list, or onto another group (for example Post & core into Crowns & bridges) to move it there.
- Click Add your own treatment at the top, or + Add treatment beside any group (for example Crowns & bridges) to add straight into that group, for anything missing such as an e.max crown, aligners or a perio flap. Give it an English and Arabic name, a group (this sets its colour), a short code for the chart, a price and a one-line explanation for the patient.
Connect your clinic folder and patient folders
Click Patients, then Connect clinic folder, and choose the folder that holds your patients' folders, for example D:\Dental\1 Cases.
- Each patient saves into the folder with their name. A new folder is made only when there isn't one already.
- Open patient folder (in Patients) or Choose patient folder (on the patient card) links a patient to any folder. The name and file number come from the folder name, for example Sara El Sayed (1002). If the folder already holds a Smile Plan case, or the patient is already in your list, that patient opens.
- Add photos from folder shows the JPG and PNG photos in the patient's folder and its subfolders. Tick the ones to add. RAW camera files (.CR2) and DICOM X-rays need exporting as JPG first.
- The case file, PDFs and patient pages are saved into the patient's folder.
After you open or refresh the chart, your first tap anywhere asks to use the folders again. If Chrome offers Allow on every visit, choose it and you won't be asked again. Otherwise choose Allow each time. Your work is saved in the browser meanwhile and goes into the folder once you allow it.
Make a treatment plan
- Choose how the chart looks with Arch or Straight above it: the arch shows the teeth as in the mouth, the straight chart lines both jaws up in two rows. Your choice is kept for every patient, the patient page and the PDF. On a phone the arch is easier to tap.
- Click New patient and fill in the patient's details. The File no. is given by itself: one more than your last patient. To start from your own number, type it in Settings → Next file no., for example 1001 or A-1001.
- Type the patient's phone. Call and WhatsApp buttons appear beside it; numbers like 01xxxxxxxxx get Egypt's +20 code. You can search the patient list by phone. The phone is never put on the patient page.
- Click a tooth on the chart, then click a treatment. Each one goes into the plan in its phase: urgent care, disease control, rebuild & replace, then cosmetic.
- Tick Select several teeth to give the same treatment to a group, such as the teeth of a bridge. Tick Missing tooth for teeth that are gone.
- Use Whole-mouth treatment for exams, X-rays, scaling, dentures and similar.
- In the plan list you can change any phase, price or quantity, and add a discount. To move a treatment to another phase, drag it by its name onto that phase. Empty phases appear while you drag. On a phone, use the phase menu on the row.
Add photos and X-rays
- Click Add photos and choose JPG or PNG files. Export X-rays as images first.
- Select a tooth on the chart, then click the spot on the photo to add a pointer. Drag a pointer to move it; double-click its label to flip it.
- Under each photo, choose its quadrant to show it beside the chart. Choose Below the chart for wide X-rays.
Show and send the plan
- Patient view hides the editing tools. Switch between English and العربية. Tapping a tooth explains its treatment.
- Save PDF makes a printable sheet with signature lines.
- Save patient page makes one file the patient opens in their browser and taps through but cannot change. Send it on WhatsApp and ask them to open it in Chrome or Safari.
- Copy summary gives a short text to paste into a message.
Update progress as you treat
When a procedure is finished, tick Done next to it in the plan. The patient's progress bar, "Completed" list and chart update by themselves, and the status changes to In treatment, then Completed.
After each visit, save a new patient page or PDF and send it, so the patient sees what is done and what is left.
Keep photos and X-rays of the work
When you tick Done, a bar asks Add photos or X-rays of the result? Take them with the camera or pick them, or use From patient folder. They are filed under that tooth with the date the file was made.
To add photos at any time, click a tooth and use Add photos under Treatment photos & X-rays. A photo taken before the tooth's first finished procedure is marked Before, otherwise After. Grey images are recognised as X-rays.
Click Open record to see everything for that tooth. There you can change a photo's stage (Before, During, After, Follow-up), type, date or teeth. Tick Only for my records to keep a photo off the patient's page and PDF.
With a Before and an After of the same kind, the record shows a slider to compare them. Teeth with photos have a ring around their number on the chart. Patients tap the tooth, then See photos and X-rays.
The PDF adds a "Treatment photos" section with the first Before and the latest After for each tooth. Untick Include in PDF to leave it out.
Medical history and clinical notes
Open Medical history under the patient's details. Tick their conditions, and write allergies, medicines and other notes. Anything that matters shows as a red Medical alert beside the patient's name, in the tooth panel and in every notes window. Patients with an alert have ⚠ in the patient list.
Each treatment in the plan has a Notes button. The form fits the treatment:
- Root canal: working length, reference point and master file for each canal, plus file system, irrigation, dressing, obturation and sealer.
- Fillings: surfaces, composite and shade, etching, bonding agent, liner and matrix.
- Crowns, implants, extractions and others: material, shade, cement, implant size and torque, sutures, prescription and more.
Add a dated visit note for each session. Notes save as you type, and a short summary shows under the treatment in the plan. Materials you type once are suggested the next time.
The medical history and clinical notes are your records only. They are kept with the patient's case file in their folder, and never appear on the patient page or the PDF. Removing a treatment that has notes asks you to click twice.
Build your portfolio
Each time you tick a procedure as done, Smile Plan asks whether to add that tooth to your portfolio, under its speciality: Restorative dentistry, Endodontics, Prosthodontics, Implantology, Oral surgery, Cosmetic dentistry or Periodontics & prevention. If you add photos of the result first, it asks again right after. You can also click Portfolio → Add from this patient and pick any finished procedure.
- The entry starts with that procedure only: its tooth, its clinical notes (e.g. file system and working lengths for a root canal, composite and bond for a filling) and the photos and X-rays of that tooth. Add other photos from this patient brings in the rest.
- Check the title, speciality, year, age group and number of visits, and write the problem, what you did and the result. Untick any material you don't want to show.
- Tick the photos and X-rays to use and mark each as before or after. Use Crop / cover to cut out or black out anything that shows who the patient is, such as a name or date printed on an X-ray.
- Tick whether the patient agreed to their photos being used. Without that agreement, use intraoral photos and X-rays only, with no face. Then confirm you checked the photos and click Add to portfolio.
The Portfolio window lists your cases by speciality. Click Save portfolio page to make one file with the cases shown, grouped by speciality, ready to send or open on any device. Choose one speciality first to make a page of just your endo or implant cases.
The portfolio is a separate copy: the patient's name, phone, file no., exact dates, prices and medical history are never copied, and the saved photos carry no hidden date or location. Deleting a patient doesn't remove their portfolio case. Check your syndicate's rules on using patient photos.
Save to your Google Drive (website version)
On the Smile Plan website, click Sign in with Google. Your patients, photos, X-rays, portfolio and settings then save to a Smile Plan folder in your own Google Drive, with one folder per patient. Smile Plan can only see the files it makes there; nothing is kept anywhere else.
- Sign in on any computer, tablet or phone to find your patients. Photos download when you open the patient.
- The button at the top shows Saved to Google Drive with the time. Without internet it keeps working and saves to Drive when the connection is back. If the same patient was changed on two devices, the newer change is kept.
- If it says Connect Google Drive, click it once to let Google confirm it's you.
- Deleting a patient moves their Drive folder to the Drive trash, where it stays for 30 days.
- On a shared clinic computer, open Patients and click Sign out when you finish. That removes your patients from that computer; they stay in your Drive.
Install it on your phone, tablet or computer (website version)
Smile Plan can sit on your home screen like any app: its own icon, full screen, and it opens even without internet.
- iPhone or iPad: open the website in Safari, tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen and Add.
- Android: open the website in Chrome and tap Install app at the top of Smile Plan (or Chrome's menu ⋮, then Install app).
- Windows or Mac: in Chrome or Edge, click Install app, or the install icon at the right of the address bar.
- On the installed app, sign in with Google once more: the installed app keeps its own copy, separate from the browser. Your patients come back from your Drive.
- Updates arrive by themselves: the next time you open it with internet, you get the newest version.
Keep your patients safe
- Patients lists everyone with status, progress and total. Search, open, copy or delete from there.
- Click Back up all patients once a week. A reminder appears after 7 days. With a clinic folder connected, backups go into its Smile Plan backups folder.
- On a new computer, open the chart and click Restore a backup. Your patients, prices and clinic settings come back.
Good to know
- Patient information stays on your computer. Nothing is uploaded.
- Clearing the browser's history and site data also clears the chart's saved patients in that browser. Back up first, or keep the clinic folder connected.
- One or two photos per quadrant read best. Put extra X-rays below the chart.
- Prices on the plan are estimates. The note at the bottom of every PDF and patient page says so.
On a phone or tablet
- Phones can't open the chart file from a folder or save into folders. Use the chart's online link in your phone's browser, and add it to your home screen.
- Patients you make on the phone are kept in the phone's browser. Add photos lets you take a photo with the camera or pick one from the gallery.
- To move patients to the computer, tap Back up all patients, send the file to yourself, then use Restore a backup on the computer.
- Patient pages you send work well on phones. Patients tap a tooth to read about its treatment.