Health practices
Bookkeeping for dental practices
Dental offices run on daily batches: card terminal settlements, insurance checks, and payment-plan deposits. The books need to catch every one.
Updated October 4, 2026
In short
Dental practices collect from patients at the front desk, from insurers by check and ACH, and from financing companies, all in daily batches. We match deposits to your practice software, track lab fees and supplies as a share of production, and record associate pay and equipment loans. Most practices are in our Complex tier.
How the money moves
How money comes in and goes out
Collections come from the front desk card terminal, insurance payments, and third-party financing like CareCredit, which pays the practice and collects from the patient.
The big costs are predictable: staff, lab fees, supplies, rent and equipment. Lab and supply costs are worth watching closely, because they move with how busy the chairs are.
Common problems
Where the books usually go wrong
Deposits that don't match the day sheet
If the practice software says $8,400 was collected and the bank shows $7,900, someone needs to find the difference while it's fresh.
Financing company deposits
Patient financing pays out net of a fee, and that fee is a real expense.
Lab fees drifting
Lab costs as a share of production creep up quietly unless someone tracks them every month.
Every month
What we do every month
- Match daily deposits to your practice software's deposit reports
- Record financing-company payouts and their fees
- Track lab fees and dental supplies in their own categories
- Record payroll, including associate pay
- Track equipment loans and leases
A month of books, for example
A single-dentist practice with one hygienist sees about forty card settlements, a dozen insurance payments and a few CareCredit deposits a month. We'd match all of them to the deposit report from their practice software, flag a missing insurance check from three weeks ago, and show lab fees running at 9% of collections, up from 7%.
Illustrative example, not a client story.
Getting started
What we need from you
- Deposit reports from your practice software (Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental or similar)
- Access to your bookkeeping software, bank and merchant accounts
- Lab invoices and equipment loan statements
Software and statements we work from
- Dentrix
- Eaglesoft
- Open Dental
- CareCredit
- Sunbit
- Gusto
- QuickBooks Online
Price
What it costs
Most dental practices fit Complex, $600 to $800 a month and up. A small single-chair practice may fit Moderate.
One flat monthly price, set after the free review. See the pricing guide or estimate your tier.
Questions
Common questions
Do you need access to patient charts?
No. We work from deposit reports and totals. If a task ever needs more, we'll talk about the right agreement first.
Can you track production and collections?
Your practice software is the source for production. We make sure collections in the books tie back to it.
Do you handle the practice's payroll?
We record it from your payroll provider so the books match. Running payroll we'd discuss in the review.
We're opening a second office. Can you separate them?
Yes. Each office can be tracked as a class or its own entity, depending on how it's set up.
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