This guide is for dentists, practice managers and clinic IT staff who want to run a dental office on free software, or who want to know what a “free download” really gives them. The short answer: there is no actively maintained, fully free program that does everything a commercial dental practice system does. Open Dental comes closest, but it is shareware (conditionally free): the download is a trial for evaluation, and live use needs a paid registration. The genuinely free options are either dormant (OpenMolar), part of a larger hospital system (GNU Health), or general clinic software without a tooth chart (OpenEMR, Chikitsa).
Below is what each program does well, where it falls short and who should pick it. If you need one patient record for a clinic that mixes medical and dental care, see also our guide to free and open-source EHR software for dental clinics.
The short list
| Program | Best for | Licence | Platforms | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Dental | Evaluating a complete dental practice system | Shareware (conditionally free); proprietary since v24.4 | Windows; database server can also run on Linux | Active, 26.1 (August 2026) |
| OpenMolar | Studying or forking a real dental practice system | Free, open source (GPL v3) | Linux; Windows and macOS only from source | Dormant: mothballed, last release 1.1.6 (2017) |
| GNU Health (Dentistry Package) | Hospital dental departments and dental schools | Free, open source (GPL v3+) | GNU/Linux or FreeBSD server; Linux client | Active, 5.0.7 (April 2026) |
| OpenEMR | Mixed medical-dental clinics that need scheduling and billing | Free, open source (GPL v3) | Docker, Linux, Windows; users work in a browser | Active, 8.4.1 (September 2026) |
| Chikitsa | Small clinics that want appointments, visits and bills | Free, open source (GPL) | Self-hosted PHP/MySQL; browser | No release since 2.0.7 (February 2022) |
| MedinTux | French GP practices already using it | Free, open source (CeCILL) | Windows, macOS, Linux | Inactive, 2.16 (2014); no dental module |
Open Dental: the complete system, but shareware
Open Dental covers what a dental office does every day: operatory schedules and recalls, a graphical tooth chart with perio and ortho charting, treatment plans with insurance estimates, claims, statements, and an imaging module with bridges to many X-ray systems. Its documented MySQL/MariaDB database is the main reason IT staff like it: you can query and export your own data. The limits are clear. The free download is a trial with a demo database and a blank database capped at 30 patients, without CDT codes, the API or eServices. Since version 24.4 the licence is proprietary, so it is no longer open source. The program runs on Windows 11; Mac users need a Windows virtual machine. Pick it if you want a real dental practice system and are ready to register it for live use.
OpenMolar: dental-specific and free, but mothballed
OpenMolar is the only genuinely free program here written specifically for a dental practice. A Scottish dentist built it for his own mixed NHS and private practice: separate reception and surgery screens, a three-row tooth chart (current state, treatment plan, completed), perio charts with CPITN scores, costed treatment plans with printable estimates and an appointment book that searches across several dentists. The catch is its status. The last release, 1.1.6, came out in June 2017, and the author describes the project as mothballed. Current Debian and Ubuntu releases no longer package it, so you build it from source with Python 3 and PyQt5, and its NHS forms reflect one practice at one point in time. Pick it to study how working dental software is organised, or as a base for a fork, not to run a new practice.
GNU Health: free dental charting inside a hospital system
GNU Health is a free hospital and health information system, and its dentistry package (health_dentistry) is the most complete free dental charting that is still maintained. It adds an FDI odontogram for permanent and primary teeth, decayed, missing, filled and for-extraction status, per-surface procedures, signed treatments and printable odontogram and procedure reports, all in a record that also holds prescriptions, lab results and billing. The package is basic, though: no perio chart, no ortho module, no dental fee schedule, no dental X-ray viewer and no US or UK claim formats. The server needs GNU/Linux or FreeBSD with PostgreSQL, and someone who can administer them. Pick it for a hospital dental department, a public clinic or a dental school that wants dental records in the same system as medical care.
OpenEMR: strong practice tools, no dental chart
OpenEMR is the most active free EHR: version 8.4.1 came out in September 2026, it runs in Docker or on a PHP and MariaDB server, and staff work in a browser. For a dental office it handles the practice side well: provider calendars, recalls, a patient portal, e-prescribing and medical billing with X12 claim files. What it lacks is anything dental. There is no graphical tooth chart, no perio chart and no dental claim form, and CDT codes are not included because the ADA holds their copyright. Teams that choose it build a dental exam form in the layout editor and add their own procedure codes to the fee sheet. Pick it for a clinic that mixes medical and dental services, or one with IT staff who are comfortable configuring forms.
Chikitsa: a simple clinic app for the front desk
Chikitsa is a small, free (GPL) PHP/MySQL clinic application from Sanskruti Technologies. It covers the simplest loop a practice needs: patient register, appointments per doctor, visit history, bills, receipts and payments. It installs on a Windows PC with XAMPP or on a Linux server, and the rest of the office uses a browser. For dentistry it is limited: there is no tooth chart, perio chart or imaging, so procedures are typed as text, for example “36 MOD composite”. The last release, 2.0.7, dates from February 2022, SourceForge still marks the project as beta, and there is no insurance claim handling. Pick it for a one- or two-chair clinic that mainly wants an appointment book and billing on its own computer and can work without a chart.
MedinTux: medical records only, no dental module
MedinTux appears in searches for free medical records software, so a short, honest note. It is a free (CeCILL) French records suite for general practitioners, with patient files, prescriptions, certificates and French CCAM coding. It has no dental module, no tooth chart and no dental imaging, its interface is mostly in French, and the latest version, 2.16, dates from 2014; the project appears inactive. A dentist would use it only inside a French practice that already runs it, for example to check medical history and medication before treatment. For dental records, choose one of the programs above.
How to choose
- Decide whether you need a tooth chart from day one. If you do, the realistic choices are Open Dental (shareware) or the GNU Health dentistry package. OpenEMR and Chikitsa store tooth numbers only as form fields or text.
- Decide who will run the server. Open Dental installs on Windows like ordinary office software. OpenEMR, Chikitsa and GNU Health are server applications, and GNU Health in particular needs Linux and PostgreSQL skills. If nobody can patch a server and restore a backup, a self-hosted system is a risk, not a saving.
- Match your billing. US dental insurance claims point to Open Dental. OpenEMR bills medical claims; GNU Health and Chikitsa have no US or UK dental claim formats.
- Check maintenance before features. OpenMolar and MedinTux have had no release for years. Unmaintained software holding patient data gets no security fixes.
- Test with fictional patients. Use the Open Dental demo database, a GNU Health demo database or the public OpenEMR demo, and run one full day: book, chart, plan, complete a procedure, take a payment.
- Plan your exit. Before going live, confirm you can export patients, appointments and ledgers. Open Dental documents its database; the open-source programs give you direct database access.
FAQ
Is there free dental practice management software?
Not a complete, maintained one. OpenMolar is free and dental-specific but mothballed since 2018. The GNU Health dentistry package is free and maintained but sits inside a hospital system. Open Dental is complete but shareware (conditionally free). OpenEMR and Chikitsa are free but have no tooth chart.
Is there an Open Dental free download?
Yes. The installer is a free download of the trial version, with a demo database and a blank database limited to 30 patients. Using it with real patients requires a paid registration with Open Dental Software, and since version 24.4 it is no longer open source.
What is the best open source dental software?
For dental charting, the GNU Health dentistry package is the maintained open-source option; OpenMolar is dental-specific but dormant. For scheduling and billing in a mixed clinic, OpenEMR is the most active open-source project.
Is there free dental clinic software for Mac?
Open Dental does not run on macOS; Mac users run it in a Windows virtual machine. Web-based systems such as OpenEMR (through Docker Desktop) or Chikitsa can be used from a Mac browser once a server is running. The full GNU Health client targets Linux; on macOS only the generic Tryton client is available, with reduced functions.
Can a dental office run on free general clinic software?
For appointments, visit notes and payments, yes. For charting, no: with OpenEMR or Chikitsa you record teeth as structured fields or text and keep radiographs in your imaging program.
Is free dental software safe for patient data?
That depends on how you run it. Self-hosted software puts backups, updates, HTTPS and user access on you. Avoid unmaintained programs for live patient data, and never enter real patients into a public demo.
Last updated: 26 September 2026 · DentIIT editorial team. Licence, version and platform details are checked against each developer's official documentation; none of the tools listed here should be treated as a certified medical device unless its vendor says so.
