This guide contains various methods of locating missing images within Apteryx. In most cases, missing images can be located by employing one or more of these methods.
If you have already located your missing images under a duplicate patient or a patient with incorrect data and are looking for information on how to move or merge the images into the correct place, please click the following link to jump to Correcting Missing Images.
Finding Missing Images
Quick links:
Searching by Partial Patient Information
Combination Search + Searching by Modality
Searching by Partial Patient Information
This method is recommended as a first step, to determine if the images in question were taken or converted into a patient record with incorrect or missing data, a duplicate patient, or data that does not match the patient's information within your Practice Management software.
- In Apteryx, navigate to the Query page. This is the default page you will be taken to if accessing Apteryx without bridging to it, or if the patient information you have bridged does not match with any patient records stored within Apteryx.
- If you are currently viewing a patient's images, you can navigate to the Query page by clicking Search at the top of the left-hand toolbar.
If any of the below fields are populated with patient information, click Clear before proceeding.
- Begin searching by one field at a time.
- For example, if you know the missing images belong to First name John, Last name Doe, Primary ID 12345, Date of birth 01-01-1999, Gender M, Type "John" into the first name field and click Search. All patient records containing "John" as the first name will be displayed. If nothing is found, click Clear then search for last name "Doe" to display all patient records with a last name of "Doe." Repeat this process for each field one by one, until a potential duplicate or incorrect record is found.
- Wildcard searches can also be used by placing an asterisk at the end of the field. For example, typing "Jo* " into the first name field will display all records where the patient's first name begins with "Jo." This is useful for locating a patient record where a misspelling may have occurred.
- A combination of the above can be utilized as well. For example, you can search for first name "John" and last name "D* " to query for all patient records that contain a first name of John, and a last name beginning with D.
- Denticon users: It is recommended to begin searching by Primary ID first, especially if the patient that is missing images had a recent name change or correction within Denticon. If a patient's record was changed in Denticon but not changed in Apteryx, and images were captured with the patient's new information, a duplicate patient will be created with the same ID number as the existing patient.
- Once a duplicate or incorrectly entered record has been located, click View to display the images contained within that record, then review the images to determine if they are the images you are missing.
If you have determined the images under the duplicate or incorrectly entered patient are the images you are missing, please click the following link for the next steps. Correcting Missing Images
If a duplicate or incorrectly entered patient record was not located using the above steps, move on to the section below.
Searching by Date
Searching for images by date or within a date range is useful if you know what date the missing images were taken but were unable to locate the images by searching partial patient information. This method also works to locate and determine if the images may have been captured into the wrong patient record.
To perform a date range search:
- In Apteryx, navigate to the Query page. This is the default page you will be taken to if accessing Apteryx without bridging to it, or if the patient information you have bridged does not match with any patient records stored within Apteryx.
- If you are currently viewing a patient's images, you can navigate to the Query page by clicking Search at the top of the left-hand toolbar.
If any of the below fields are populated with patient information, click Clear before proceeding.
- Click the "+" icon next to the Primary ID field, then select Study Range (From) to add it as a searchable field. Click the "+" icon again, then select Study Range (To) to add that field as well.
- Enter the date range you'd like to query in the Study Range (From) and Study Range (To) fields, then click Search.
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Study Range (From) should contain the starting date of the range you'd like to search, and Study Range (To) should contain the last date of the range you'd like to search. For example, if you need to search for all patient records that had images stored between 1/1/25 and 1/7/25, enter 1/1/25 into the Study Range (From) field and 1/7/25 into the Study Range (To) field.
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If you'd like to query for all patient records that had images stored on a single date, enter the same date into both fields. For example, if you'd like to query for all images captured on 1/7/25 only, enter 1/7/25 into both fields.
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All patient records containing images that were taken, imported, or saved within the date range specified will be queried. Once a patient record that may contain the images has been found, click View to display the images contained within that record, then review the images to determine if they are the images you are missing.
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If needing to see the exact time an image or series was taken, click on the patient's name instead of View to review the list of studies directly. These entries will show the exact time the images were captured.
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When reviewing results returned by querying a date range, we highly recommend cross-referencing the results with the schedule within your Practice Management software to determine if the images had been captured into the wrong patient's record.
If you have located the images you are missing at this point, please click the following link for the next steps. Correcting Missing Images
If a duplicate or incorrectly entered patient record was not located using the above steps, move on to the section below.
Combination Search + Searching by Modality
If the missing images were unable to be located using either of the above methods, a combination of both methods can be used to pinpoint your results. The addition of searching by Modality can further truncate the results queried if needed.
To search by Modality:
- Click the "+" icon next to the Primary ID field, then select Modality.
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This will add an additional searchable field where you can filter results to only contain images containing the specified Modality. Select the modality you'd like to search for from the selections available.
- Common modalities are IO for x-rays taken with a sensor, PX for panos, XC for Intraoral Camera images, CT for 3D imaging, and OT for Other. Additional descriptions of modalities can be found here, if needed: DICOM Library - About DICOM available modality.
A few examples of combination searches are as follows:
If you'd like to search for all patient records that have a first name beginning with "J" and a last name beginning with "Sm" that had images captured on 7/11/25, type J* in the First Name field, Sm* in the Last Name field, add Study Range (From) and Study Range (To) to the search fields, then enter 7/11/25 into both Study Range fields and click Search.
If you'd like to search for all patient records with a last name of "Smith" that contain IO modality images captured between a date range of 7/11/25 - 7/23/25, type Smith in the Last Name field, 7/11/25 in the Study Range (From) field, 7/23/25 in the Study Range (To) field, then set the Modality drop-down to IO and click Search.
If you'd like to search for all patient records with a first name of "John" and a last name of "Smith" that contain a CT, type John in the First Name field, Smith in the Last Name field, then set the Modality drop-down to CT and click Search.
If the missing images are still unable to be located after utilizing the above search methods, please Submit a Ticket to our support team for further assistance.
Correcting Missing Images
If you have located the missing images under a duplicate patient record, a patient record containing incorrect information, or under the wrong patient, the following steps can be used to move the images to the correct patient record.
Quick links:
Images were found under a duplicate patient record
Images were found under the wrong patient record
Images were found under a duplicate patient record
Duplicate patients occur when any amount of patient information differs from the existing patient's record during image acquisition. Example of a duplicate patient:
Note the date of birth and gender of the duplicate record do not match the existing record even though the first name, last name, and ID number match, creating a duplicate patient.
If the missing images have been located under a duplicate patient, the duplicate patient will need to be merged into the existing record:
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Take note of the existing/correct patient's information (the patient you'd like to merge the duplicate record into), then click View to display the duplicate patient's images.
- During this step, ensure the existing patient's information matches the patient's information in your Practice Management software before proceeding. If the information does not match, refer to Editing Image Information to update the patient's information in Apteryx.
- Click on the pencil icon next to the duplicate patient's name to open the Patient Edit menu.
- Update the duplicate patient's information to match the existing/correct patient's record exactly, then click Confirm. Apteryx will detect that all patient information matches an existing record and will merge the duplicate record into the existing/correct patient.
- After clicking confirm, as long as all patient information was updated to match the existing/correct record exactly, you will be taken to the correct patient's record automatically and the images contained within the duplicate patient record will have been moved to the correct patient's record.
Images were found under a patient record with incorrectly entered, missing, or old patient information
This often occurs if a patient's name, gender, or any other information was corrected within your Practice Management software after images had been acquired using the old or incorrect data.
If you have located the images under a patient record where there may be a typo, missing data, or incorrect data, the patient record can be corrected using the following steps:
- Confirm what the correct patient information is within your Practice Management software, and take note of it as this is the information that will be used to update the incorrect patient record in Apteryx.
- Click on the pencil icon next to the duplicate patient's name to open the Patient Edit menu.
- Update the patient's information to match the patient information specified in your Practice Management software exactly, then click Confirm.
- After clicking confirm, you will be taken to the corrected patient's record automatically.
Images were found under the wrong patient record
If you have found the missing images under the wrong patient record and need to move them to a different patient's record, this is accomplished by utilizing the following steps:
- View the patient record containing the series of images needing to be moved to another patient, then click the series in the preview bar to display the images.
- Select Move To... from the right toolbar to open the Move To menu.
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If the correct patient record already exists in Apteryx:
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Search for the correct patient within the Existing Patient section by ID, first name, and/or last name.
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Select the correct patient from the search list, then click Move.
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A confirmation message will display - confirm your changes, then click Confirm. (Retain or Flatten images can also be selected - it is recommended to leave this selection on Retain, which will be selected by default)
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Once the Move has been processed, you will be automatically taken to the patient you have moved the images to, where the images can then be found moving forward.
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If the correct patient record does not yet exist in Apteryx:
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Take note of the what the correct patient's record information should be (found in your Practice Management software), then manually enter the information under the New Patient section. Once all information has been entered, click Move.
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A confirmation message will display - confirm your changes, then click Confirm. (Retain or Flatten images can also be selected - it is recommended to leave this selection on Retain, which will be selected by default)
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- Once the Move has been processed, you will be automatically taken to the patient you have moved the images to, where the images can then be found moving forward.