Database Integrity
Our Database Integrity feature triggers warnings when your database detects that data was inserted in a potentially unsafe way.
Warning Types
The following warning will occur once per patient per instance of Open Dental until the unsafe data insertion has been resolved.
Open Dental User Q & A
Why am I receiving these warnings?
Open Dental HQ will be enabling these warnings intermittently beginning on March 20th, 2026 to ensure all third parties are inserting data properly into your database.
If you see a warning, it is because your database has detected data that was potentially entered in an unsafe way. This is most likely due to a Dangerous Integration.
Refer to Open Dental Integration Types for a full definition and explanation of Dangerous Integrations. Known Authorized and known Dangerous vendors are listed on our Third-Party Vendors page.
What are the consequences of using a Dangerous Integration Type?
When using a Dangerous Integration:
- It is not possible to track third-party changes in the Open Dental Audit Trail.
- Open Dental staff may be unable to fix databases that have been altered through dangerous integrations.
- Dangerous Integrations are not guaranteed to work with future versions of Open Dental.
How can I remove these warnings?
Disable the third party and update Open Dental.
What can I do if I am using a Dangerous Integration?
Switch to a safe integration method such as our Native Integrations, Authorized Third-Party Vendors, or Open Dental eServices.
How long have third-party vendors been aware of this change?
We have offered the Open Dental API, the most extensive and comprehensive API in Dental Practice Management, for over five years. We have been encouraging all vendors to switch to the Open Dental API since the API was introduced.
Open Dental does not charge API vendors for data extraction (read-only) actions. A small fee is charged to vendors to insert data into the database.
All third-party programs are affected, and we expect all third parties to integrate with Open Dental in a safe way.
Guidelines for Companies
All third parties must utilize the API to integrate in Open Dental. See API Specification for details.