Cloud based dental software: what changes for your office IT

Moving your practice software to the cloud takes the server out of your closet, but it does not take IT out of your office. Your internet line, workstations, sensors and network matter more, not less. This guide covers what changes and what to sort out before you switch.

The cloud products from the big three vendors

Each of the three main server-based vendors also sells a hosted product. Here is what their own pages say, read on October 30, 2026.

• Dentrix Ascend (Henry Schein One): Henry Schein One says Ascend is hosted in the cloud, runs in a web browser and includes imaging tools. It recommends a backup internet connection.
• Fuse (Patterson): Patterson describes Fuse as a cloud-based platform that stores all your data and is reached over an internet connection.
• Open Dental Cloud: Open Dental describes it as a hosted version it manages, in limited release and for US customers only.

Your internet line becomes the server cable

With a server in the closet, a dead internet line means no email and no online claims, but the schedule still opens. With cloud software, a dead line can stop the front desk. Open Dental’s cloud requirements ask for at least 20 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up, and its cloud page asks for latency under 30 ms to one of its data centers. Henry Schein One recommends a backup connection for Ascend.

• Get a second internet line from a different provider, ideally over a different kind of connection.
• Use a firewall that fails over to the second line by itself.
• Put the modem, firewall and main switch on a battery.
• Write down what the front desk does when both lines are down.

What stays in your office

Moving the practice software does not move the office. Open Dental says plainly that the computers used to reach its cloud are still managed by the practice or its IT provider. You still own:

• Workstations: Windows updates, antivirus, and the PCs in each operatory.
• Imaging and sensors: sensors, intraoral cameras and scanners plug into local PCs and need local drivers. Open Dental Cloud needs its ODCloudClient program on a Windows PC to connect to third-party software such as imaging and card processing. It also says imaging software can stay local or be hosted.
• The network: switches, cabling, Wi-Fi and the firewall.
• Printers, label printers and card scanners, and their drivers.
• Phones, email and office files that were never part of the practice software.

If imaging stays local, you may still need a small server or storage device for the images, with its own backups.

What changes with backups

The vendor takes over backups of the hosted data. Open Dental says Open Dental Cloud gets nightly backups that are encrypted, checked and stored off-site. Henry Schein One says Ascend uses encrypted backups. That does not cover anything still in the office: local images, scanned documents, spreadsheets and email.

Ask the vendor two questions in writing. How do you get a full copy of your data if you leave? How long would a restore take if something went wrong on their side?

Access gets easier for everyone

Browser access from home or a second office is a selling point. It also means a stolen password works from anywhere.

• Give every staff member their own login. No shared front-desk accounts.
• Turn on multi-factor sign-in if the product offers it.
• Remove logins the day someone leaves.
• Decide which home computers, if any, may be used, and keep them patched.

Confirm with your compliance adviser what agreements you need with a cloud vendor that holds patient data.

Updates are on the vendor’s schedule

Hosted software is updated by the vendor. Henry Schein One says updates come with the Ascend subscription. Open Dental lists practices that want to choose when to update as a poor fit for its cloud. If a third-party program relies on the practice software, check that it supports the hosted version. Open Dental notes limits on third-party integrations that do not use its API.

What to check before you move

• Your internet speed and latency, measured at busy times.
• Every device that talks to the practice software today: sensors, cameras, scanners, signature pads, card terminals.
• Where images will live, and how they will be backed up.
• Which PCs are too old for the vendor’s browser or client requirements.
• What happens to the old server, and the data left on it.

Where we come in

We can measure your connection, list what stays local and plan the move with you through our IT consulting service. Start with a free on-site assessment.