About TDO

Journey Toward Excellence: The TDO Software Story

The short version of the TDO Software story is that TDO® began with the commercial launch of our software in early 2000. The true story goes back farther than year 2000. It predates our current location and even the name TDO®. In fact, the true story has nothing to do with software, but starts with a group of concerned endodontists trying to better the state of the Endodontic specialty.

Early in Dr. Gary Carr’s career he was puzzled by the fact that endodontic surgeries had a 50% failure rate. So with the help and mentoring of Dr. Terry Tanaka, Dr. Carr undertook a microscopic and ultra-structural study of surgical failure using fresh human cadavers. The study showed conclusively that there were two primary causes of surgical failure. The first was inappropriate surgical armamentarium, which lead to the development of a radically different system of microsurgical instruments. The second was inadequate placement of retro-filling material due to poor visibility, a problem that could easily be solved with a high magnification microscope.

These insights eventually lead to dramatic improvements in the safety and success rate of endodontic surgeries for hundreds of thousands of people around the world. The specialty immediately realized the value in the new microsurgical instruments he invented. Surprisingly, however, Dr. Carr’s decision to start using a microscope was initially met with skepticism (surprisingly because microscopes were already common practice in neurosurgery, micro-vascular surgery, ENT and OBGYN).

For Dr Carr and a loyal group of like-minded clinicians, it was the first lesson that excellence doesn’t come easy, and that humans are surprisingly resistant to change even when all evidence points to the need for it. Today, training in “Microscopic Endodontics” is required by postgraduate programs in order to become certified. But it took 15 years of lectures, training and workshops through PERF (The Pacific Endodontic Research Foundation) to get this change accepted on a widespread scale.

Then, in the late 1990s, Dr. Carr and his office manager Amy Taylor began developing a practice management software as a natural complement to working with a microscope. The goal was not to produce just another practice management software, but to develop a truly integrated digital office that would simplify and unify all functions within an endodontic practice. At the same time they hoped to create a disciplined way of collecting data that would allow for a scientific analysis of endodontic outcomes as well as provide standardized evidence-based endodontic protocols, which are solely needed in the endodontic specialty.

They began testing Version 1.01 of TDO Software in 1998. Thirty dedicated endodontic specialists culled from prior PERF faculty members volunteered to be the beta testers. After two years of extensive beta testing and further refinement of the ergonomic concepts first developed at PERF, TDO Software was introduced commercially in early 2000 revolutionizing the field of endodontic record keeping.

In 2012, Dr. Carr appointed Luiz Motta as the CEO of the organization. Under his leadership, the team successfully scaled the enterprise, improved internal processes, and consequently increased the market share to over 2,000 endodontists by 2023. During Luiz’s tenure, TDO was acquired by Sonendo in 2018, and subsequently by Valsoft in 2024. TDO Software has continued to evolve its practice management software, expanding its functionalities with innovative cloud services, thereby maintaining its position at the forefront of the field.

Dr. Gary B. Carr
TDO Founder & President

Sincerely,

Dr. Gary Carr