Migrate from The Dental System to Zoho CRM

Patient records migrate as Zoho Contacts. We resolve each patient by first-name + last-name + date-of-birth match. Any patients sharing a last name without a unique DOB get flagged for de-duplication before the migration commits. The Dental System's internal patient ID is stored as a custom field on the Zoho Contact for traceability.

When The Dental System stores a practice or clinic name per patient (for multi-location groups), we create Zoho Account records and link each Contact via the Account Name lookup. The Account stores practice address, phone, and specialty — matched by name-and-domain or name-and-address to avoid duplicate Account creation.

Dental appointments map to Zoho Events with the original start/end datetime, provider name (stored as a custom Contact lookup), and appointment status (Completed, Cancelled, No-Show). Operatory and operatory-room fields migrate as custom text fields since Zoho has no native operatory concept. Recurring recall appointments are de-duplicated — only the next scheduled recall date migrates; history is preserved in a custom module.

Treatment plans are dental-specific objects that have no native Zoho equivalent. We create a Zoho custom module (API name: Treatment_Records) with fields for procedure code, tooth number(s), diagnosis, treatment description, provider, treatment date, and status. Each Treatment Record links to the patient Contact via a lookup relationship.

Insurance carriers from The Dental System migrate as Zoho Account records with Account Type set to 'Insurance Carrier'. Patient insurance records (group number, subscriber ID, annual maximum, used benefits) attach as custom fields on the Contact, linked to the carrier Account via a lookup. This preserves the carrier relationship for reporting on insurance-provider mix.

Recall intervals (6-month cleaning, annual exam, perio-maintenance) have no Zoho equivalent. We create a Recall_Records custom module linked to the Contact with fields for recall type, last-appointment date, next-due date, and recall status. This lets your team run Zoho reports on upcoming recalls without rebuilding the logic from scratch.

Referral source (dentist referral, patient referral, external marketing campaign) maps to Zoho's standard Lead_Source pick-list on the Contact. If The Dental System stores a referring dentist as a separate contact record, we link them via the Contact relationship rather than collapsing to a pick-list value.

Payment history and outstanding balances are dental-financial records that do not map to Zoho's native Deals or Tasks. We create a Billing_Records custom module linked to the Contact with fields for procedure, amount charged, amount paid, payment date, payment method, and balance. For practices using Zoho Books for true accounting, we preserve the source-system payment reference so the billing record can be reconciled manually.

Clinical notes attached to patient records in The Dental System migrate as Zoho Notes attached to the Contact. Scanned documents, treatment consent forms, and imaging-file references migrate as Zoho Attachments. File-size limits (25 MB per attachment in Zoho) are enforced during migration — files exceeding the limit are flagged for manual re-upload to Zoho's document storage.

Dental providers (dentist, hygienist, office manager) from The Dental System are matched to Zoho CRM Users by email address. Unmatched providers are created as Zoho Users before migration, or assigned to a fallback user. Provider role (Dentist, Hygienist, Admin) is preserved as a custom pick-list field on the User record since Zoho's native profile system governs permissions separately.