TDO
TDO is a community of quality centered endodontists working together to practice at the highest level within our specialty. When you join the TDO family, you are getting far more than the most comprehensive endodontic practice management software available; you are tapping into the knowledge base and clinical expertise of a global network of today's most respected and accomplished endodontists.
From the clinical to the administrative, for the well-established practitioner or the clinician just starting out, TDO provides endodontists with all the tools and resources they need to build and maintain a successful practice.
The TDO Story
TDO began with the commercial launch of our software in early 2000. TDO’s history, however, goes back much farther than that. It predates our current location and even the name TDO. In fact, the whole story of TDO has nothing to do with software, but starts with a group of concerned endodontists trying to better the state of our specialty.
Early in my career I was puzzled by the fact that endodontic surgeries had a 50% failure rate. So with the help and mentoring of Dr. Terry Tanaka, I undertook a microscopic and ultra-structural study of surgical failure using fresh human cadavers. Our study showed conclusively that there were two primary causes of surgical failure. The first was inappropriate surgical armamentarium, which lead to my development of a radically different system of microsurgical instruments. The second was inadequate placement of retro-filling material due to poor visibility, a problem that could easily be solved with a high magnification microscope.
These insights eventually lead to dramatic improvements in the safety and success rate of endodontic surgeries for hundreds of thousands of people around the world. The specialty immediately realized the value of the new microsurgical instruments I invented. Surprisingly, however, my decision to start using a microscope was initially met with skepticism and ridicule (surprisingly because microscopes were already common practice in neurosurgery, microvascular surgery, ENT, and OB-GYN).
For me and a loyal group of like-minded clinicians, it was our first lesson that excellence doesn’t come easy, and that people are surprisingly resistant to change even when all evidence points to the need for it. Today, training in “Microscopic Endodontics” is required by postgraduate programs in order to become certified. But it took 15 years of lectures, training, and workshops through The Pacific Endodontic Research Foundation (PERF) to get this change accepted on a widespread scale.
Then, in the late 1990s, my office manager Amy Taylor and I began developing a practice-management software as a natural compliment to working with a microscope. The goal was not to produce just another practice-management software, but to develop a truly integrated digital office that would simplify and unify all functions within an endodontic practice. At the same, time we hoped to create a disciplined way of collecting data that would allow for a scientific analysis of endodontic outcomes as well as provide standardized evidence-based endodontic protocols, which are sorely needed in our specialty.
We began testing Version 1.01 of TDO in 1998. Thirty dedicated endodontic specialists culled from prior PERF faculty members volunteered to be the beta testers. After 2 years of extensive beta testing and further refinement of the ergonomic concepts first developed at PERF, TDO was introduced commercially in early 2000, revolutionizing the field of endodontic recordkeeping. Eight years later, we are preparing to launch Version 11, and in the future, we will continue to regularly evolve our software to stay at the forefront of the field.
TDO- The Digital Office for Endodontists - is presently the most widely used endodontic software in the world. Through TDO, we have built a community of quality centered endodontists united in our search for excellence. Each day, my fellow TDOers and I strive to push the boundaries of our specialty—most recently through the “TDO Outcomes Project,” the first multicentered, randomized, controlled clinical trial in the history of endodontics.
We hope that TDO improves your quality of life as it has for countless other endodontists and their patients, and we invite you to join us on our journey toward excellence. Only by working together as a group can we continue to advance our specialty and guarantee our patients the best possible care.
Sincerely,
Dr. Gary B. Carr
Our products
As a working endodontic office, we use all of our own products daily and are continually revising our software to keep pace with the changing needs of both our office and our users. Unlike other software companies, we concentrate only endodontics, and our products are the better for it. TDO Practice Management Software, TDO Web, and TDO Mobile are a modular system designed specifically for the modern day endodontist.
We guarantee that TDO will make you a better clinician and help your office run more efficiently. TDO is the complete practice management system for endodontists.
TDO Practice Management Software
Anyone can convert a paper form into a digital form. What makes TDO unique is that it was designed and functions the way an endodontist actually works. TDO is the only endodontic practice management software that is ergonomically designed.
TDO Web
Impress new patients before they even set foot in your office with in-home Web registration. TDO Web also strengthens your relationships with referring dentists by making patient information available as soon as you finish a case.
TDO
Don’t let work pile up when you’re away from the office. TDO Mobile allows you to connect to your office anywhere, anytime, through a BlackBerry. It’s like carrying TDO around in your pocket.
Although we specialize in endodontic software, TDO is far more than a software company. When you join TDO, you also gain access to such features as the highly popular TDO Chat, a free online forum where endodontists advise each other on everything from what tips to use to proper ergonomic design.
TDO for Postgrads
A lot of students think they have to hire a commercial design company to design their first office. They spend a lot of money and are dismayed when, 6 months later, they have to redo it because their office wasn’t designed the way an endodontist works. (Worse, they decide to live with their office the way it is and develop a repetitive stress injury). We want to save you from making this and other costly mistakes. With TDO for Postgrads, you can start developing an ergonomic understanding of how to work while you’re still in school, enabling you to intelligently plan your office and your practice.
Ergonomics, office design, photography—the following are just a few of the ways TDO helps prepare you for your career as a clinician:
Mentoring
At TDO, both we and our users are committed to helping young clinicians establish a philosophy of practice that will guide them throughout their entire career. We believe this philosophy of practice is the most important gift we can give young clinicians.
Board Cases
TDO automatically keeps track of all potential board cases and archives them for future review.
TDO Reference Library
TDO comes with a digital library that allows you to organize reference literature by topics and author, making studying for the boards much easier.
Ergonomics
We can’t emphasize enough the importance of having an ergonomically designed office—an office designed around a sound understanding of how an endodontist works with the microscope. And no one understands efficient ergonomic workflow better than TDO because we first introduced the microscope into the endodontist’s office in the first place. We can help you design a fully functional, esthetically pleasing office for a fraction of the price you’d pay a commercial design company.
Office Design
The plumbing. The flooring. The electrical. The cart. In addition to the matter of ergonomics, there are a lot of moving parts to designing an office. By joining TDO, you’ll be able to post questions about anything related to the physical plans of your office on TDO Chat and hear, within a matter of days, from 30 to 40 people who have just gone through the process. Our users know what the construction costs are in different areas. They know where to buy things at the best price. Best of all, they’re willing to share their advice for free simply because someone else did the same for them.
Photography
Endodontic photography is a difficult skill that’s poorly understood. It’s also one of the most important ways to build your practice. Taking high-quality, compelling pictures through the microscope is how you communicate your value to referring dentists and patients. TDO founder Dr. Gary Carr was the first endodontist to start taking pictures through the microscope, and over the years we’ve taught hundreds of doctors proper photo-documentation techniques. We’ll advise you on what equipment to purchase, how to use an adapter, the ergonomics of picture taking, and all the other parts of good microscope photography.
TDO is fully integrated in the endodontic residency of the following universities:
●
●
The following universities have had students using the TDO Postgrad edition:
●
● Eastman Dental Institute,
●
●
●
●
●
● University of
●
●
●
●
●
At our special student rate, you’ll quickly find that TDO for Postgrads more than pays for itself. TDO for Postgrads has all the functionality of our professional version; the only difference is that your patient database is limited to 500 entries.
