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.

1. A beta version, and demo patients to explore

   Smile Plan is in beta: it is still being tested, so features may change and you may find mistakes. Back up your patients regularly and check figures before relying on them.

   To see everything it can do before entering your own patients, click Load demo patients (in the beta notice, or on the Patients page). It adds 10 made-up patients in two clinics with plans, payments, treatment costs and appointments, plus sample clinic expenses. Demo data is marked DEMO, stays on this device (never in Google Drive, your folders or backups) and goes away with Remove demo data; your own patients are not touched.

   Tell us what to fix or build next: choose Feedback in the menu ☰ (or Send feedback in the beta notice). A short Google form opens with the part of Smile Plan you were using and your device already filled in. You sign in with Google so we know who sent it and can reply. Please don't include any patient's name or details.

2. 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.

3. Set up your clinic (once)

   Click Settings.

   Light or dark: Light theme / Dark theme in the menu ☰ switches the theme. In Settings → Appearance on this device, choose Match device to follow your phone or computer, or always Light or Dark. PDFs always stay light.

   • 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.

4. 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.

   • Every patient's case file (Case - name.json) is saved directly in the clinic folder, side by side, with no folders. To move patients to the website, select all of them there and use Restore backup or case files.
   • When you connect the folder, all your saved patients are written into it straight away. Save all patients to folder now (in Patients) does the same again at any time. Patients without a name are skipped until you name them.
   • A patient linked to their own folder saves there and in the clinic folder, so the clinic folder always holds every patient.
   • 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.
   • Patient link (website, signed in with Google) saves the plan as a PDF in the patient's folder in Smile Plan on your Google Drive and gives you a link: Copy link or Send on WhatsApp. Anyone with the link can view the PDF; it never has the medical history, your notes, payments or appointments. When the plan changes, Smile Plan tells you; click Update PDF with the current plan. The link stays the same, so the patient always sees the latest plan, and the previous PDF is kept with its date in the patient's Archive folder, which only you can open.
   • 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. Run your practice: Patients, Finances, Calendar

    The menu (☰): everything lives in the menu on the left: Patients, Finances, Calendar, the open patient's Chart, Portfolio builder, then This patient's plan (Patient link, Save PDF, Save patient page, Copy summary), and Settings, Guide, Feedback and the light / dark theme. On a computer it stays open; ☰ hides or shows it. On a phone or tablet, tap ☰ to slide it in; it closes when you choose something. In Patient view it stays out of the way. Smile Plan opens on Patients once you have saved patients.

    • Patients: every patient with their stage (Draft, Presented, Accepted, In treatment, Completed), how many procedures are done and which phase is next, total, paid and balance, and their next appointment. Filter by stage, search, or sort by next appointment or balance owed. Open goes to their chart.
    • Payments: each treatment line in the plan has Pay beside Done. Click it, type how much the patient paid (it starts at what's left on that tooth), choose the method (Cash, Card, InstaPay, Vodafone Cash or Other) and save. The line then shows Paid 2,000 of 3,500, or ✓ Paid when it's settled. The Payments card below lists every payment and what it was for, and shows total, paid and balance.
    • Appointments: the Appointments card books a date, time and length (60 minutes unless you change it), and the treatment for that visit, chosen from the patient's own list (tooth and phase), or Consultation, Follow-up, Review or Emergency. Smile Plan warns if it overlaps another booking.
    • Reminders: Smile Plan doesn't send reminders itself; it puts appointments in your own calendar, which reminds you. Next to each upcoming appointment, + Google opens it ready-filled in Google Calendar (your usual Google notifications apply), and + .ics saves a calendar file for iPhone, Outlook or Google with reminders a day and an hour before. On the Calendar page, Add upcoming to my calendar does every appointment in the next 90 days at once. The buttons match your device: on Android you'll see only + Google Calendar (Android's Google Calendar app can't open calendar files), on iPhone + iPhone Calendar adds it straight to the Calendar app with its reminders. The event includes the patient's name, phone and treatment, never their medical history or notes.
    • Finances: money collected in a month (or all time) by method, open quotes not yet accepted (expired ones are marked), what patients in treatment (started, not finished) still owe, and work done but not yet paid. Each payment shows which treatment and tooth it was for.
    • Treatment costs: in a patient's chart, the Treatment costs card records lab fees, materials, implant parts or referrals, each for one treatment (tooth) or for the whole mouth / whole plan. The card shows the patient's payments minus costs.
    • Expenses: in Finances, open Expenses to record the clinic's own money: clinic expenses (one-off, each with a category such as clinic materials, maintenance or marketing), fixed monthly costs (rent, salaries, bills, with a start and optional end month), devices (price and useful life; Smile Plan spreads the price over the months as depreciation) and other income (such as renting the chair).
    • Several clinics: add each clinic under Expenses → Clinics. Each expense, device and income line can belong to a clinic, each patient's card gets a Clinic choice, and the clinic menu at the top of Finances shows all clinics together or one at a time.
    • Profit & loss: the Month view shows income, expenses (fixed, devices, clinic and patient costs, with a breakdown by category) and net profit with its margin, then the pipeline: open quotes, what patients in treatment owe, and work done but not yet paid. The current month is marked in progress, since its fixed costs count from the 1st.
    • Trends: in Finances, switch from Month to Trends for all-time analysis: income and net profit, this month against last month (MoM) and against the same month last year (YoY), this year so far against the same months last year, and the monthly average. A chart compares the last 12 months with a year earlier (point at a month for its figures), and tables list every month and every year with payments, patients who paid, new patients and the value quoted.
    • Calendar: Upcoming lists the coming appointments day by day; Month shows the month starting on Saturday. Pick a day to see it and book an appointment for any patient.
    • Payments and appointments are for you only: they never appear on the patient's PDF or page. They are saved with the patient, in backups and in your Google Drive.

12. 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.

    Send it to clinics as a PDF link (website, signed in with Google): click PDF link to send. Smile Plan saves the cases shown as one PDF in Smile Plan → Portfolio on your Google Drive and gives you a link: Copy link, Send on WhatsApp or Email. When you add cases, Smile Plan tells you the PDF is out of date; Update PDF keeps the same link and moves the previous PDF, with its date, to Portfolio → Archive, which only you can open. Filter by speciality first to send a clinic only, say, your 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.

13. 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.
    • You stay signed in on each device: sign in once and Smile Plan keeps saving to your Drive, even after you close it. If it ever says Connect Google Drive (for example after you remove Smile Plan's access in your Google account; during the beta Google also asks about once a week), 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.

14. 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 in Smile Plan's menu ☰ (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.

15. 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 backup or case files. Your patients, prices and clinic settings come back.