800 users, 1.3 million patients, 30 million images – one Planmeca Romexis® database

As the volumes of digital patient data increase in dentistry, so does the need for intelligent digital solutions for image handling and archiving. Planmeca’s uniquely comprehensive Planmeca Romexis® software platform can flexibly adapt to the imaging and diagnostic needs of clinics of any size – as evidenced by two textbook examples from Sweden.

Dental care generates enormous amounts of patient data both over time and across multiple locations. A case in point is the public health care district of the Stockholm County Council in Sweden, one of the largest health care providers in Europe which serves approximately 2.3 million citizens spread over 26 municipalities. Today, it is also the single largest Planmeca Romexis® customer, housing a centralised Romexis database with dental images accessed by close to 800 simultaneous users across the organisation.

One database – millions of images

Planmeca has had a long history with the health care district of the Stockholm County Council (or “Region Stockholm”), dating all the way back to the 1990s and Planmeca Dimaxis™, the imaging software platform that was to pave the way for Romexis. Since then, the district’s nearly one hundred databases for patient images have been successfully migrated into a single centralised database – a completely unique solution enabled only by Planmeca Romexis.

The council’s experience with Planmeca Dimaxis made introducing the centralised Romexis database fairly straightforward. Today, the single server contains more than 30 million images from the district’s 1.3 million dental patients, adding up to several terabytes of patient information. All efficiently in one Romexis database.

Customised image archiving and data management

More to the southwest, the Västra Götaland Regional Council (“Västra Götalandsregionen” or VGR) is the second largest health care provider in Sweden, offering health care services to 1.7 million patients. Here, Planmeca has been instrumental in developing an image archiving and data management solution tailored to the needs of the district. Indeed, with services spanning nearly 250 locations, VGR currently has one of the most extensive Planmeca Romexis implementations integrated with a regional PACS archive.

VGR’s custom solution consists of five regional Romexis servers and a third party PACS archive (“Bild- och funktionsregistret” or BFR). All images are acquired with an intraoral sensor or phosphor plates and processed through Romexis. The images are then automatically DICOM-stored to the PACS archive and, upon return visits, immediately retrieved to the regional Romexis server. The quick access enabled by this unique solution has helped streamline workflows at the district’s dental clinics.

Multi-site image handling for public and private operators

From public health care districts, hospitals and dental schools to private practice chains, large-scale operators in the dental industry need secure, centralised and flexible access to large amounts of patient data. In the Nordics, Planmeca’s versatile Romexis platform has been picked up by both public health service providers and universities as well as private clinic chains.

The Romexis software platform enables storing all clinical images in a single database. In addition to allowing archiving images from third party devices as a dental PACS, Romexis supports multi-site solutions by connecting one master database to local databases. This enables fast data access and transfer that is ideal for large-scale dental clinics, hospitals and educational institutions around the world.

Powered by Planmeca Romexis®

Patient data comes in many ‘shapes and sizes’. Dental care involves handling not only large amounts of data, but also different types of data, which frequently necessitates different software and systems for each type. Planmeca Romexis allows viewing and processing all types of dental images in one and the same software, whether it’s a 2D X-ray, 3D image, digital impression or standard photograph. It’s a one-of-a-kind solution for safe and uninterrupted image handling at any dental facility.

Every major operator has their own needs and demands, and organisations and infrastructures may vary considerably from case to case. At the same time, it is important to be able to access and share information with colleagues and clinics without delay – for large operators, it may even be critical. With Romexis-powered solutions, large dental care providers and dental schools can be sure that the patient data they need is always available.

Copy: Hanna Lipiäinen & Aleksandra Nyholm