Our list of dental form templates is for dental practices looking to create or improve their patient intake process with new forms. By providing a range of templates and examples, we give you a baseline from which you can tailor the forms to meet the unique needs of your practice and patients. Beyond just generic forms, we also offer some ideas on how some practices have customized their new patient experience to enhance the overall patient experience.
We link to generic and digital forms as well as forms in Spanish. We also discuss the use of online tools like Jotform, which is HIPAA-compliant and demonstrates the ease of collecting patient information digitally. It includes a crucial note about the integration aspect with Practice Management Software (PMS) tools, a feature where tools like our own new patient dental forms templates give you an edge.
Different Types of Forms
Online, Cloud-Based Forms: These forms are a modern convenience, making it easy for patients to fill out their information digitally. They can be designed to comply with HIPAA regulations, ensuring the security of patient data. However, a major drawback is that generic form software may not integrate well with dental practice management software, necessitating a manual transfer of data, which could be time-consuming and less efficient.
Printable Forms: A traditional choice, printable forms are good for practices or patients who have a preference for paper. They are simple and free from technical glitches. However, they require manual data entry, which can lead to errors, and are generally less efficient when compared to digital solutions.
Fillable PDFs (filled out online, then printed): Fillable PDFs provide an advantage in that they can be quicker for some to type than write in answers, eliminating the issue of messy handwriting for staff to decipher. However, they must be printed out and brought to the appointment, and their data still requires manual entry into practice management systems, maintaining a level of manual processing.
Online Forms That Sync with Practice Management Software (PMS): These forms offer a significant advancement by automatically updating patient data in the practice’s system, making the process efficient and simple. However, they can be more expensive, and the software may present a learning curve when compared to traditional paper forms. Among the available options, tools like Yapi stand out as they offer online, cloud-based, secure forms that can be filled out ahead of time with immediate syncing to the PMS, representing a harmonious blend of features and convenience.
Beyond the Form: Consider a Welcome Page for New Patients
Before we get to the forms, let’s start with some inspiration. At Smiles Dental, a multi-office practice in the Pacific Northwest, they created a straightforward and friendly welcome page on their site dedicated to new patients. This page lists the necessary forms for new patients: New Patient Form, Financial Agreement, HIPAA Privacy, Dental History Form, and Medical History Form.
To alleviate the anxiety associated with new experiences, the page also succinctly outlines the five main stages of a visit in order (Registration, X-rays, Complete Exam, Treatment Plan, Consultation). This step-by-step guide helps ease the uncertainty new patients might feel. Each form is linked to a browser-fillable PDF, which patients can print and bring along, showcasing a considerate approach to welcoming new individuals to the practice. Consider how your practice will offer the forms to your new patients and how a little thoughtfulness can make even the experience of filling out new patient forms just a little bit better.
Printable and Fillable Templates and Examples
New Patient Form – American Dental Association
A two-page form that is concise and specific to new patient information.
- Patient Information
- Referral Information
- Reason for Visit
- Brief Dental History
- Insurance Information
New Patient Form (w/ Medical History)
This is a well-organized form. It’s a five-page PDF, which allows you to easily remove pages/sections that you don’t need.
- Patient Information
- Primary Insurance
- Secondary Insurance
- Preferred Pharmacy
- Dental History and Oral Health
- Medical History
- Prescriptions/ Supplements
- Conditions
- Informed Consent to Treatment (w/ initials)
- General Consent to Treatment
- Acknowledgment of Privacy Practices
General One-Page New Patient Registration Form
A simplified and straightforward one-page form.
- Responsible Party
- Patient Information
- Primary Insurance
- Secondary Insurance
Exhaustively Complete Form
This form has questions for everything, including employment information and the names and ages of family members, to questions about why the patient left their last dentist and even their attitudes towards oral care, such as “Do you believe that having your teeth cleaned regularly will help prevent gum disease, and thereby prevent you from losing your teeth?” It also has a placeholder to insert your practice logo and contact information.
Online Cloud-Based Dental Forms
Online tools such as Jotform provide a platform for generic dental practice forms. While not specifically designed for healthcare, Jotform adheres to HIPAA compliance, automatically encrypting data to safeguard Protected Health Information (PHI). There are literally hundreds of options for online form tools, yet many lack a design focus on healthcare and are not legally compliant. It’s advisable to opt for tools explicitly crafted for dental practices as they often encapsulate additional benefits. A notable drawback of Jotform is its lack of integration with Practice Management Software (PMS) tools like Dentrix, leaving the data isolated within Jotform until manually transferred to your primary system. This highlights the convenience of a tool like Yapi, which offers online forms that seamlessly sync with Dentrix, Open Dental, and Eaglesoft, presenting a more straightforward and simple solution for dental practices. Yapi offers over 30 ready-made and easy-to-customize forms for its users that integrate with scheduling tools to automatically send the right form to the right patient as soon as the dental appointment is scheduled.
Here are some helpful forms at Jotform:
- Dental HIPAA Form
- Dental Patient Information Form
- Dental History Form
- Dental Clearance Form
- Dental Informed Consent Form
Dental Intake Forms in Spanish
With 54 million Spanish speakers in the U.S., it’s worth having some forms for both English and Spanish languages. Here are some PDF forms in Spanish.
Información para la admisión del paciente
This is a well-organized form. It’s a five-page PDF, which allows you to easily remove pages/sections that you don’t need.
Contains:
- Información del paciente
- Información del seguro primario
- Información del seguro secundario
- Información sobre la farmacia de preferencia
- Historia odontológica y salud bucal
- Historia médica
- Nombre del medicamento recetado/del suplemento
- Enfermedades
- Consentimiento informado para recibir tratamiento
- Consentimiento general para recibir tratamiento
- Acuse de recibo de las normas de privacidad
Información del Paciente
This is a concise two-page PDF form in Spanish. It’s in Google Docs, so you can easily modify it for your practice.
To customize: Simply open it as a Google Doc (at the top of the page) and then make a copy (in the File drop-down menu). Then, you’ll have your own version you can edit on the screen.
Contains:
- Información del Paciente
- Información de Seguro
- Historia Dental
- Historia Medica
- Enfermedades
This article provides a practical resource by not only showcasing a variety of form templates and examples but also by comparing different types of forms and their integration with Practice Management Software (PMS). The overarching aim is to assist you in finding a method that aligns with your operational needs while enhancing the patient experience. Among the discussed options, tools like Yapi, which enable online form filling with immediate syncing to PMS, offer a compelling blend of convenience and functionality for optimizing dental practice operations.
