Formerly, computer applications in the dental office were restricted mainly to adminstration and organization. The revolutionary potential of digital applications does not halt at other fields, however. Besides applications in dental therapy, computerized methods have entered all levels of classic dental diagnosis: acquisition of findings, evaluation, and categorization. All three components have a new quality, worthy of being reevaluated if not redefined. New systems are described and evaluated in relation to relevant practice requirements, from both the practitioner's and the scientific clinician's points of view.