Comparison
Heidi (Heidi Health) is a popular AI dental notes tool used by Australian medical practitioners. But Heidi was built for GPs and general medicine. If you are a dentist looking for AI dental documentation, the differences matter. This page compares the two on every feature specific to dental practice.
Both InstantNote and Heidi (Heidi Health) generate clinical notes from a consultation recording. Both work in Australia. Both process audio in real time and produce structured notes for the clinician to review. Both are used as AI dental notes tools, though one is built for it and one is not.
The difference is specialisation. Heidi Health is designed for general practice, allied health, and specialist medicine. Its dental documentation is generated using a medical framework. InstantNote is designed exclusively for dental practice, with dental-specific sections, terminology, compliance requirements, and workflow tools that do not exist in a general medical tool.
For a GP, Heidi is the right tool. For a dentist who needs complete AI dental documentation, the missing dental features create gaps that cost time to fill manually and create medicolegal risk if left unfilled.
| Feature | InstantNote | Heidi Health |
|---|---|---|
| Built for dentistry | Yes. Dental-only. | No. General medical scribe. |
| ADA item number suggestions | Yes. Detects items from note content, including surface-count codes (521-535). | No. |
| AHPRA dental compliance scoring | Yes. Every note scored green/amber/red against Dental Board standards before approval. | No dental-specific compliance. |
| Dental appointment type detection | Yes. Auto-detects recall, extraction, crown prep, RCT, perio charting, composite, implant consult, and more. | No. Uses generic medical templates. |
| Dental consent forms | Yes. Procedure-specific (extraction, RCT, crown, implant, surgical). Patient signs on screen. | No dental consent forms. |
| LA agent and dose recording | Yes. Dedicated section: agent, concentration, vasoconstrictor, volume, technique. | No dental-specific LA documentation. |
| Tooth and surface charting in notes | Yes. Tooth numbers, surfaces, materials used. | No dental charting awareness. |
| Radiograph justification (ALARA) | Yes. Dedicated section for clinical justification and findings. | No. |
| Dental lab forms | Yes. Crown, denture, mouthguard, implant lab slips generated from note. | No. |
| Pre-authorisation letters | Yes. For Medicare and private health funds, populated from note. | No dental pre-auth. |
| Dental referral letters | Yes. Specialist referrals with clinical context from note. | General referral letters. |
| Patient summaries (multilingual) | Yes. Plain-language summary in any language. | Patient summaries available. |
| Audio storage | Never stored. Processed in real time and discarded. | Varies by plan. |
| Data location | Australia (AWS ap-southeast-2). | Australia. |
| Founded by | Dr. Donny Sin, practicing Australian dentist. | Medical technology team. |
| Pricing | From AUD $99/month billed annually ($129 monthly). Pro adds charting and PMS sync from $179/month billed annually ($229 monthly). 7-day free trial. | Free tier available. Paid plans vary. |
A dental note is not the same as a medical note. Dental notes require tooth-level specificity (tooth numbers, surfaces, materials), procedure-specific consent documentation with named risks, local anaesthetic recording with agent, concentration, and volume, radiograph justification under the ALARA principle, and compliance with Dental Board of Australia record-keeping standards.
A general medical scribe does not include these sections because GPs do not need them. When a dentist uses a general scribe, they end up manually adding the dental-specific information after the note is generated. This reduces the time saving and introduces inconsistency.
InstantNote was built to eliminate this gap. Every section of the dental note is populated from the consultation recording, including the sections that only exist in dentistry. The dentist reviews the complete note and approves it. Nothing is saved without sign-off.
The Dental Board of Australia sets specific requirements for dental clinical records. These requirements differ from general medical record-keeping in their emphasis on tooth-level documentation, consent for irreversible procedures, radiograph justification, and local anaesthetic recording.
InstantNote scores every note against these dental-specific AHPRA standards before the dentist approves. Missing sections are flagged. This is not a general completeness check. It is a check against the specific documentation requirements that the Dental Board audits.
Heidi Health does not provide dental-specific compliance scoring because it is not designed for dental practice.
Australian dentists bill using ADA (Australian Dental Association) item numbers. These are specific to dentistry and not used in general medical practice. InstantNote detects the treatment performed and suggests the relevant ADA item numbers, including surface-count-dependent codes for composite restorations (items 521 to 525 for anterior teeth, 531 to 535 for posterior teeth).
This feature does not exist in Heidi Health because ADA item numbers are not relevant to the medical practitioners Heidi was designed for.
If you are a GP, specialist physician, psychologist, physiotherapist, or other non-dental health practitioner, Heidi Health is a strong choice. It is well-established, has a large user base, and is designed for medical workflows.
If you are a dentist, dental specialist, or dental therapist working in an Australian practice, InstantNote is purpose-built for your workflow. It covers the dental-specific documentation, compliance, billing, and clinical workflow requirements that a general medical scribe does not address.
InstantNote
Speak naturally during the consult. Every dental-specific section is populated from your recording and scored for AHPRA compliance before you approve.
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