Vol.

4 March 2013
Print ISSN 2244-1468 Online ISSN: 2094-9626
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7828/aitr.v4i1.335

Advancing Information
Technology Research

LAN-Based Dental Information Management

System of Sevallos Dental Clinic
LAURENCE M. PEROCHO
CATHY JAY Q. ABREGANA
ORCID No. 0000-0002-6093-4433
AIBBY S. ARITRANGCO
ORCID No. 0000-0003-0160-6998
CHERRY L. DEL ROSARIO
ORCID No. 0000-0001-5315-698
College of Information Technology
Liceo de Cagayan University
Rodolfo N.Pelaez Boulevard, Kauswagan
Cagayan de Oro City, 9000 Philippines
Abstract - The LAN-based Dental Information Management System (DIMS) is a client server system designed for managing information of Sevallos Dental Clinic. Its module consists of patient information, dentist information, dental instruments and supplies used for
every treatment, account, and dental services. With this module, the
dentist can retrieve any patient information easily. The system also allows updates on records and provides account reports. It generates
patient periodontal chart, visit history, patient bills, and clinics income
report. It also produces treatment guide that informs the clinic staff of
the dental instruments and supplies needed during every treatment.
Keywords - dental system, information management, periodontal
chart, clinic staff, income report

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INTRODUCTION
Adoption of Information Technology in healthcare settings such
as primary care clinics can help improve the quality of patient care
and can increase clinical efficiency (Dorr, D.A., 2009). Like in any other
environment and business, computer technology can also be used to
manage information in dental clinics. The computers information processing system, databases, and graphics technology can be widely applied to the dental clinics information management system (Yu, 2009).
The ability to provide a complete and reliable patient dental record is
considered as a vital factor in the continuing efforts towards a more
effective, patient-centered dental care (Hussain, 2010).
The Sevallos Dental Clinic was put up in 2008. The clinic offers the
following basic dental services: extracting, filling, and cleaning for children and adults alike. The clinic can accommodate 10 patients at most
a day depending on the services to be rendered. An appointment can
be made through a telephone call or through walk-in visit. The clinic is
singly owned by Dr. Analyn T. Sevallos-Uy, who is also the lone dentist
of the clinic. As open-minded and optimistic as Dr. Sevallos is about
the future of her clinic, she recognizes that there is always a room for
improvement concerning the system that the clinic is using. Information in the dental clinic is still manually processed. Patient Index Card,
Medical Questionnaires, and Clinical Examination Sheets are given to
the patients for them to fill out. These records are then manually filed.
Such system of the clinic makes recording inefficient. Hence, a Dental
Information Management System (DIMS)is proposed to improve significantly the clinics management of information for quality service.
FRAMEWORK
This study is anchored on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) of
Fred Davis (1989). It is an information systems theory that models how
users come to accept and use technology. The theory suggests that a
number of factors influence decision about how and when users adopt
a technology. Most notable factors are the following:
1. Perceived usefulness (PU) defined as the degree to which a
person believes that using a particular system would enhance
his job performance.
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2. Perceived ease-of-use (PEOU) defined as the degree to

which a person believes that using a particular system would
be free from effort.
Acceptance has been conceptualized as an outcome variable in a
psychological process that users go through when making decisions
about technology. As technological use spreads across society and organizations become more dependent on information technologies, the
concern with designing information systems that will be used appropriately grows.
The researchers chose the cited theory for them to understand
better why people accept information technology. Such understanding aided the researchers in developing a system that responds to the
needs of the target users.
FDI World Dental Federation Two-Digit Notation (International)
The tooth numbering used in the proposed system is based on the
system developed by the Fdration Dentaire Internationale (FDI). It
is the World Dental Federation notation also known as ISO-3950 notation.
The human teeth are symmetrically arranged in the mouth. Each
quadrant of the mouth has 8 different teeth that are mirrored horizontally and vertically to the other quadrants.
In the FDI (Fdration Dentaire Internationale) World Dental Federation notation, each one of these 8 teeth is assigned a number from 1
to 8, starting from the center front tooth (central incisor) and moving
backwards up to the third molar (number 8). Each quadrant is also assigned a number, from 1 to 4 for the adult (permanent) teeth or 5 to 8
for the baby (primary or deciduous) teeth.
The combination of these two numbers (quadrant code number
and tooth code number) specifies how teeth are numbered. This tooth
numbering system is called the Two-Digit World Dental Federation
Notation or FDI notation system.

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Quadrant codes

Tooth codes

Adult teeth

Baby teeth

1 - upper right

5 - upper right

1 - central incisor

5 - 2nd premolars

2 - upper left

6 - upper left

2 - lateral incisors

6 - 1st molars

3 - lower left

7 - lower left

3 canines

7 - 2nd molars

4 - lower right

8 - lower right

4 - 1st premolars

8 - 3rd molars

Figure 1. Tooth numbering system

Figure 2. Tooth numbering chart for adult teeth

Figure 3. Tooth numbering chart for child teeth

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Treatment Transaction
Below is the algorithm for the computation of a patients bill.
Total Amount = Sum (Treatment Price)+ Balance
Net Amount = Total Amount - Discount
Balance = Net Amount Cash Tender
If Cash Tender < Net Amount Then

Payment Status = 0
Else

Payment Status = 1
End If
Where;

0 = Unpaid transaction

1 = Paid transaction

Balance = balance of the patient from the previous transaction

Total Amount = total amount to pay

Cash Tender = amount tendered

Net Amount = net amount

Discount = discount price given to the patient

Treatment Price = price of the treatment rendered
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This study aimed at developing dental information management
system for Sevallos Dental Clinic. It is an automated and digitized type
of a system for more efficient way of recording, retrieving, monitoring, and managing data. This are the following specific objectives: (a)
To create a digitized system that manages numerous data such as patients dental record, dentists record, appointment record, dental supplies record, and users record; (b) To create a system that stores all
files in digitized form to save space that otherwise may be used to
stock piles of records; (c) To design a system with built-in search queries for faster retrieval and generation of data; (d) To provide a system
that allows the user to manage easily the scheduling of appointment
with the dentist; (e) To create a system that provides the treatment
procedure for an efficient way of preparing the dental and medical
supplies to be used; (f) To create a system that monitors the supplies
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used during treatment; (g) To provide the users a secured database

that requires username and password to protect the system from unauthorized user; and (h) To create a system that monitors the activity
logs of the user.
OUTPUT
The output of the study is the LAN-based Dental Information Management System for Sevallos Dental Clinic. Study outputs include the
complete program structure, database specifications and design, system user manual, and full documentation of all program source codes.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research followed a standard software development process
called the Rapid Application Development (RAD) model. It is a methodology that compresses the analysis, designing, building and testing phases into a series of short iterative development cycles. It uses
minimal planning in favor of rapid prototyping. The crux of rapid
application development is the Prototyping feature. In this model,
construction, demonstration, and refinement go together in iteration
model until the development team receives final sign off from the client. It is followed by regression testing and production development.
RAD approaches may entail compromises in functionality and performance in exchange for enabling faster development and facilitating
application maintenance.

In using the RAD Model, the developers dont need to factor in potential future changes when implementing a feature and, therefore, the
client can request changes as the project evolves, thus making a system
faster to develop. The development of the proposed system had seven
phases:
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1. Analysis and Quick Design. The researchers identified the

objectives of the project, and discussed and agreed on the project needs, project scope, constraints, and system requirements.
After discussing the projects key issues, the researchers conducted an interview with the client. They also observed the
clinics current system.
2. Prototype Cycles. The researchers repeated this phase until
they came up with the final system, a system that meets clients needs and expectations. The cycle included the following
development processes:
3. Building. The researchers interacted with the end-users anddeveloped models and prototypes that represented all the
system processes, inputs and outputs. The researchers chose
Visual Basic 6 (VB6) programming language as the front-end
user interface while MySQL programming language was used
for the back-end or database of the system. In this phase, the
researchers concentrated on delivering a series of fully functional prototypes.
4. Demonstration. The researchers demonstrated the system
prototypes to the end-users and allowed them to test it. After
which, the system was returned to the developers for reworking and debugging process.
5. Refinement. The researchers worked on the recommendations
of the end-users and corrected the glitches to improve the system.
6. Testing. The researchers ran several tests in their final output
to identify possible bugs in the system. This phase gave the users opportunity to fine-tune the system before its implementation.
7. Implementation. The researchers implemented the developed
system in the target setting. This phase included the presentation and system users training on how to use the system.
Figure 5 shows the Gantt chart indicating the researchers project
time frame. It simply summarizes the processes of systems development with respect to its schedule of activities. The project was started
in November 2011 and completed towards the end of March 2013.

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Figure 5. Gantt chart

The Current System

Figure 6. The Current System Flow

Narrative Description of Sevallos Dental Clinic Traditional System
The current system in Sevallos Dental Clinic is traditional or manual, wherein the clinic staff gives an index card, medical information
form, and a waiver to the patients for them to accomplish. The index
card, medical information form, and waiver compose the master file

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of patients. The date of visits of each patient and the procedures made
are recorded accordingly in the index card.
The clinic staff passes the patients information to the dentist for
review before examining the patients teeth. After reviewing the medical history of the patient, the dentist then proceeds to the clinical examination of the patients teeth for diagnosis and treatment. After the
treatment, the dentist passes back to her staff the index card with the
billing and dental information of the patient. The clinic staff bills the
patient,receives the payment, and issues receipt. After every transaction, the master file of the patient is kept in an envelope and placed on
the rack. Every time the patient visits the clinic, the clinic staff retrieves
the card and passes it to the dentist, who then updates the card while
examining the patient
The Proposed System

Figure 7. The Context Diagram of the Proposed System

Narrative Description of Sevallos Dental Clinic Proposed System
In the automated system, patients, who are represented by the entity PATIENT,provides personal, medical and dental information to
the clinic staff, who does all the recording and updating of records
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in the system. Appointment is also requested by the patient through

telephone call or walk-in visit to the clinic. The system produces bills,
dental records, appointment schedules, and reports. DENTIST entity
receives reports and patients dental record, which is updated by the
clinic staff each time a patient visits the clinic. DENTIST entity also
provides his profile information, patients dental and treatment information, and the supply used during the treatment. The ADMIN entity
receives reports as output of the system. The administrator can also
update the system from time to time to ensure the systems functionality.
Entity-Relationship Diagram

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Design Features and User Interface

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Runtime Testing/Debugging Finding and Results

Patients data in paper forms were used as inputs of the system for
the testing. After running series of tests, the researchers found some
glitches in the system, which were then fixed to improve the systems
functionality. The system will prompt the user a message if he/she inputs data already existing in the database. When saving an appointment that is beyond clinic hours, the system will display a message
box that will ask the user whether to continue saving the appointment;
it is up to the dentist to reschedule or cancel the appointment requested by a patient. As such, the system cannot hold what the user may
input unto the system, but it provides messages that notify the user of
an error.
CONCLUSION
Based on the graphical user interface designs, the researchers developed a LAN-based dental information management system. As

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such, the system is ready for use by the Sevallos Dental Clinic for managing patient records. The system will provide the clinic with a more
efficient system of managing records for enhanced service quality.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the findings of the system study, the following features
are recommended for future system development: (1) Dental treatment plan; (2) Payroll system of the clinic; (3) Dental instruments and
supplies inventory; (4) Dental instruments and supplies purchase order system; Online booking of patients appointment with the dentist;
(5) Email and mobile notification of the appointment.
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