Migrate from Open Dental to Twenty CRM

Open Dental patients map directly to Twenty People records. PatNum is preserved as a custom field (OpenDentalPatNum__c) for traceability. FirstName, LastName, Email, Phone, Address map directly. Open Dental does not have a native Email field — email addresses sourced from patient forms or imaging modules are migrated as a custom field. Email must be validated before import because source data quality varies.

Open Dental providers (ProvNum, FName, LName) map to Twenty WorkspaceMembers. Provider email is used for the Twenty user account match. Providers without email addresses in Open Dental are flagged before migration — the team must decide whether to create placeholder accounts or assign records to an admin WorkspaceMember. Provider specialty (Endo, Perio, Ortho) migrates as a custom select field on the WorkspaceMember.

Open Dental appointments (AptNum, AptDateTime, AptLength, Confirmed, AptStatus) become Twenty Tasks linked to the People record via the provider's WorkspaceMember. AptStatus values (Scheduled, Confirmed, Broken, Complete, Unscheduled) map via value-mapping to Twenty Task status options. The task title uses the appointment type description. Original appointment time is preserved in a custom datetime field.

Open Dental clinical procedures (ProcNum, ProcCode, ProcFee, ToothNum, Surf, ProcStatus) have no CRM equivalent in Twenty's standard object model. A custom Procedures object is pre-created in Twenty with fields for procedure code, description, tooth number, surface, fee, status, and provider. Each procedure record is linked to the People record via a custom PeopleId relation field on the custom object.

Open Dental insurance plans store carrier name, subscriber relationship, benefits percentages, and fee schedules. These nest under the InsPlan object, which relates to the Subscriber (Patient). A custom InsurancePlans object in Twenty holds plan name, carrier, subscriber relationship, and benefit details. The custom object is linked to the Subscriber's People record via a custom relation field.

Open Dental claims (ClaimNum, ClaimStatus, DateSent, DateReceived, BillAmt, InsPayAmt) are clinical-billing records with no standard CRM equivalent. A custom Claims object is created in Twenty with fields for claim number, status, date submitted, date received, billed amount, and insurance-paid amount. Each claim links to the Patient People record and the InsurancePlans custom object.

Open Dental payment records (PayNum, PayAmt, PayDate, PayType) track patient payment history. These migrate as a custom Payments object in Twenty with fields for amount, date, and payment type. The custom object links to the Patient People record. Note that Open Dental's pay-plan amortization schedule is a separate object (PayPlan) that also requires a custom object if full history must be preserved.

Open Dental referral tracking stores referring dentist or physician information (ReferralNum, ReferTo, ReferFrom, RefDate). A custom Referrals object in Twenty captures referral source name, referral type (Dentist, Physician, Patient, Other), and referral date. The referral is linked to the Patient People record. If the referring entity is a known contact, a separate People record is created for them.

Open Dental PatFields (PatFieldNum, PatNum, FieldName, FieldValue, SecDateEntry, SecDateTEdit) are per-patient custom fields supporting types: text, picklist, date, checkbox, currency. PatFieldDef.FieldName defines the field schema. FlitStack pre-creates each unique FieldName as a custom field on the People object in Twenty before import. FieldValue is migrated to the corresponding custom field. FieldType is preserved as metadata for data quality checks.

Open Dental documents (images, PDFs, radiographs) are stored as file references in the database with DocNum, DocCategory, and file path. The Document API (v24.2.32+) returns metadata but not the file content. We migrate document metadata as a custom Documents object in Twenty with fields for document name, category, and a reference note. Actual file migration requires re-upload to Twenty's storage or a linked file host.

PatNum is Open Dental's primary patient key and has no equivalent in Twenty. We preserve it as a custom text field (OpenDentalPatNum__c) on the People record for traceability and delta-run de-duplication. This identifier also enables mapping downstream related records (appointments, procedures, claims) to the correct People record during migration.

Open Dental multi-location setups use Clinics (ClinicNum, ClinicName, Address, Phone). If a practice uses Open Dental's Clinic feature, each clinic maps to a Twenty Company record representing the practice location. The Patient record links to its primary clinic via the clinic's CompanyId. For single-location practices, the clinic record can be skipped or mapped to a single Company.

Open Dental allergy and medication records are clinical safety data. These migrate as custom multi-select or text fields on the People record (Allergies__c, Medications__c) since Twenty's standard model has no clinical field equivalent. The data is stored for reference but is not actionable in a CRM context without additional integration.