Cybersecurity in Dentistry: Protecting Your Practice and Patients Begins With You
In dentistry, patients trust us with far more than their smile. They trust us with their personal story, their medical identity, and their private information. Most people imagine the biggest risks happening chairside, but today the greatest threat often happens silently behind a screen.
Cybersecurity is not a technical situation happening in the background. Patient protection is a responsibility shared by the whole team.
Why Dental Practices Are Being Targeted
Dental offices hold valuable information. A medical record cannot be cancelled or replaced the way a credit card can. That makes your practice more valuable to a criminal than a bank account would be.
Hackers are not getting in because of complicated software attacks. In most cases, they gain access because a busy team member tried to be helpful and clicked something that looked legitimate.
Attention is the new safety protocol.
The Real Vulnerability Is Not the System
It Is the Human Moment.
When you are answering phones, welcoming patients, verifying insurance and managing email all at once, it is easy to trust what arrives in front of you. That is exactly what criminals count on. They do not break in. They wait for someone to open the door.
The strongest firewall in dentistry is awareness.
The Team Is the First Line of Protection
Here are small daily habits that create safety long before your software does:
✅ Pause before clicking
✅ Double check unusual requests by calling back
✅ Avoid password links inside emails
✅ Treat unknown USB devices like you would an unsterilized instrument
✅ Lock screens before walking away
✅ Protect patient information even when someone else is nearby
✅ Share access only where it is truly needed
These choices take seconds but protect years of patient trust.
The Front Desk Is the Digital Front Door
Because your admin team manages scheduling, billing, forms and communication, they hold the entry point most criminals target. With the right training, this same role becomes the strongest shield your practice has.
Cybersecurity is not about fear. It is about stewardship. When patients give us their information, they are trusting us with part of their identity. Protecting that identity is another form of care.
✏️ A Personal Note from Monica
During my research about cybersecurity in dental practices, I reached out to my good friend Andrew Bilawey from Garibaldi Technology Partners. Andrew has been a trusted figure as the go-to for IT services for dental offices in British Columbia for over 25 years. I asked him what his company does to help protect their clients, and he shared: “We provide security as part of our managed services to clients. We have a comprehensive system of AI-based security software and cloud backup that protects offices. We also recommend that the office use Microsoft 365 for email hosting and have two-factor authentication enabled for accounts. Most of the phishing attacks we’ve seen have been around email passwords, and having two-factor authentication enabled can prevent a problem.”
I also asked Andrew what practices they can do to be proactive in keeping their practice safe. “The other important thing for security is the people. They are typically the weakest link. We strongly encourage offices to conduct cybersecurity awareness training with their employees at least once a year.” Andrew was kind enough to also provide resources from the Government of Canada website: Get Cyber Safe, and How to Train Employees on Phishing Awareness: A Step-by-Step Guide | Hook Security Blog.
Whenever I walk into a dental clinic and discover Garibaldi Technologies handles the practice's IT, I know they are in good hands. I encourage you to reach out to your IT team to ask what they are doing to help protect your practice, and to set up training to empower your whole team to be aware of the dangers and to pause before you click.
The Power of Prevention
Dental teams protect patients in ways they never see. What you click, what you question, and what you pause to verify can protect someone’s personal safety just as your clinical skill protects their health. Cybersecurity feels like technology, but at its heart, it is about dignity, trust and responsibility.
When your team understands that privacy is not a setting but a promise, cybersecurity becomes part of your culture. That is where long-term trust lives, and it is one way you can better serve your team and your patients, not to mention the headaches that come when you have been attacked. In dentistry we understand the significance of prevention, let’s extend that thinking beyond the mouth.
With Courage and Encouragement,
Monica Watson