Select Patient
Use the Select Patient window to search and select patients in Open Dental.
In the Main Toolbar, click Select Patient. 
Double-click on the patient row to select. The patient record will open in whatever module you began in.
By default, only one page of patients lists in the Select Patient grid at once. Names are sorted alphabetically by last name. The columns of information are customizable in Display Fields.
Keyboard: Click to use the built-in Windows keyboard. This button is not available for Open Dental Cloud users.
Search by: To filter the list, enter criteria in the Search by area. You can search by one or many criteria, and enter information by typing or using the keypad.
- First Name: By default this field searches patient first name only. To also search preferred name, see Miscellaneous Setup.
- SSN: Any user can search by SSN. If SSN's are set to be masked, only users with the Patient Social Security Number View permission can right-click to view the full number.
- Billing Type: Options are defined in Definitions: Billing Types.
- Site: Options are defined in the Site List.
- Clinic: If using Clinics, filter the list to patients who are associated to a specific clinic as well as patients who are unassigned. Patients are associated to clinics when the clinic is their default or if they have any appointments in the clinic. The default selection is the clinic selected in the main menu.
- Guarantors Only: Only list guarantors.
- Show Inactive Patients: Show patients with a status of Inactive. This preference can be defaulted to on or off in Miscellaneous Setup.
- Show Archived/Deceased/Hidden Clinics: Show patients that have a status of Archived or Deceased, or whose default clinic is marked hidden.
- Show Merged Patients: Show patients who have been merged into another patient. Option only displays if Show Archived/Deceased/Hidden Clinics is checked.
Search: Use this to see filter results when Refresh while Typing is not selected.
- Only full string matches will display, with exact matches listing first. If you search for "cott", only results that start with "cott" will display (e.g. Cotter). Results that include "cott" mid-string will not (e.g. Scott).
- When searching patients, use the up and down keys on your keyboard to quickly navigate to a patient. Use the Enter key to quickly select the highlighted patient.
Get All: List all patients (more than 30) that meet the search criteria and activate the vertical scrollbar. When this option is clicked, all patients that match the string of characters entered as search criteria (including mid-string characters) will show. Next Visit and/or Last Visit dates will not be visible when all patients are listed.
Refresh while Typing: Determines whether the patient list automatically refreshes as you type. Enable or disable this checkbox entirely in Miscellaneous Setup.
- Checked: As you type criteria the patient list will automatically refresh with matching results. The setting affects this workstation only.
- Unchecked: Do not refresh while typing. When searching patient criteria, then use the Enter key to quickly update the results.
Add New Family: You must always search for at least patient last name to see if a patient record exists. If it doesn't, you can add a new patient record using one of the following options:
- Add Pt: Add a single patient. See Edit Patient Information.
- Add Many: Add multiple family members at once. See Add Family.
Select Patient Dropdown
Another way to select a patient is by clicking the Select Patient dropdown in the Main Toolbar. The last five patients selected will show, as well as all family members associated with the current patient. Click on a name to select.
Other Options
- Click on a different family member in the Family Module or Account Module.
- Click on a patient's appointment.