Roles and Permissions

The system uses role-based access control. Some roles can only access patients assigned to them.

For step-by-step role activities, see Role and End-to-End Workflows. For the behavior of each screen, see the Complete Feature Guide.

Roles

• ADMIN
• ORTHODONTIST
• DENTAL_SURGEON
• NURSE
• RECEPTION
• STUDENT

Simple Role Summary

Role	Main Purpose
ADMIN	User administration, audit logs, reports, and broad patient/workflow oversight
ORTHODONTIST	Clinical supervision, patient care, approvals, and student case assignment
DENTAL_SURGEON	Clinical patient care, treatment documentation, and assigned student supervision
NURSE	Patient/queue visibility and inventory/material management
RECEPTION	Patient registration, visits, payments, queue workflow
STUDENT	Assigned patient/case workflow under supervision

Current Browser Feature Access

Feature	Current browser behavior
User management	Administrator creates, edits, resets, deactivates, reactivates, and permanently deletes users
Audit logs	Administrator has read-only access with search and filters
Reports	Administrator views drill-down reports and exports PDF/print, XLSX, or CSV
Patient registration/general editing	Receptionist creates and edits; Administrator manages inactive/permanent-delete lifecycle
Patient profile viewing	Administrator, Nurse, and Receptionist have broad general access; Orthodontist, Dental Surgeon, and Student access is assignment-scoped
Patient assignment	Receptionist requests clinician changes; target clinicians approve/reject; Orthodontist directly assigns Dental Surgeons/Students; Dental Surgeon directly assigns Students
Visits	All roles can view visits available within their patient scope; Receptionist schedules, changes status, and sends manual reminders in the UI
Clinic queue	All roles view; Student view is assignment-scoped; Receptionist manages membership; Receptionist, Orthodontist, Dental Surgeon, and Student update status
Patient history	Administrator reads; assigned Orthodontist, Dental Surgeon, and Student edit; consultant fields are Orthodontist-only
Dental chart	Administrator reads; assigned Orthodontist, Dental Surgeon, and Student edit; Orthodontist manages version deletion/restoration
Documents	Administrator and assigned clinical/Student roles read; assigned clinical/Student roles upload; Orthodontist manages trash
Diagnosis	Administrator and assigned clinical/Student roles read; assigned clinical/Student roles create/edit; Orthodontist manages bin
Treatment plans/notes	Administrator and Receptionist read; assigned clinical/Student roles create/edit; Orthodontist manages bin and supervisor-review type
Payments	Administrator, Receptionist, and assigned Orthodontist/Dental Surgeon read; Receptionist creates/edits; Administrator manages bin
Patient materials used	Administrator, Nurse, and assigned clinical/Student roles read; assigned clinical/Student roles create/edit; Administrator manages bin
Materials/inventory	Administrator reads; Nurse creates, edits, restocks, deletes, restores, and permanently deletes through the UI
Student cases	Administrator has oversight/cleanup; Orthodontist and Dental Surgeon supervise; Student updates assigned work
Settings	Every role changes its own password; mandatory temporary-password change is enforced here

Assignment-Based Access

Some users do not automatically see every patient.

Examples:

• A student normally works with assigned patients/cases.
• Dental surgeons and orthodontists can be scoped by assignment.
• Orthodontists and dental surgeons can view and manage student cases for students they supervise.
• Admins can view student case progress and delete removed student cases when cleanup is needed.
• Reception, Nurse, and Admin roles have broader patient-viewing access.

UI and API Scope

Sidebar visibility is not always identical to backend API authorization. In particular:

• inventory read endpoints accept any authenticated role, although the page is shown only to Administrator and Nurse;
• the backend permission matrix permits patient creation for Administrator, although the current Patient Directory shows Add New Patient only to Receptionist;
• the backend appointment matrix permits additional create/update operations for some roles, while the current Patient Profile shows appointment-management controls only to Receptionist; and
• Administrator has broad backend clinical permissions, while the current Patient Profile deliberately presents several clinical tabs as read-only.

The backend remains the final security boundary. The browser guide documents actions users can actually initiate through the current interface.

Practical Maintenance Note

When testing permissions, create one user for each role and verify:

• visible sidebar items
• patient access
• create/update/delete permissions
• reports and audit-log access
• queue access