Key takeaways
What this article covers, in order:
- The chart of accounts for a dental practice
- The 3 entries a dental practice gets wrong
- What a dental practice can claim
- The reports to run every month
- Frequently asked questions
- Where to go next
An insurer pays part of a treatment weeks later and at a rate you did not set, the patient pays the rest, and an orthodontic plan spans two years. Until the ledger separates the claim from the patient balance, your receivables are fiction and you cannot tell which treatments actually pay.
This is the bookkeeping side of that problem: the accounts to set up, the entries that go wrong, and what you can claim. If you are still choosing software, the round-up linked at the end compares the options.
The chart of accounts for a dental practice
Start from these rather than the default template. The codes are illustrative; the separations are what matter, because each one answers a question you will be asked later.
1100 Patient receivables
1150 Insurance claims receivable
2300 Deferred treatment-plan income
4000 Treatment revenue at scheduled fee
4050 Insurance contractual adjustments — a contra account
5100 Associate dentist pay
5200 Laboratory fees
5300 Clinical consumablesThe 3 entries a dental practice gets wrong
An insurer paying less than the scheduled fee
Record the scheduled fee as revenue and the shortfall as a contractual adjustment. Booking only the cash received hides the discount rate you are accepting.
An orthodontic plan billed up front
Deferred income released as treatment is delivered, over the months the patient is actually in the chair.
A lab bill for a crown
Cost it to the case. In general overheads it stops you seeing that a treatment type is loss-making.
What a dental practice can claim
Deductibility follows the rule in your own jurisdiction, so this is a checklist to take to your accountant rather than an answer. For a dental practice the cost lines to review first, and the record each one needs, are:
| Cost line | The record to keep |
|---|---|
| Associate dentist pay | The invoice, and the business-use split where the cost is shared |
| Laboratory fees | The invoice, and the business-use split where the cost is shared |
| Clinical consumables | The invoice, and the business-use split where the cost is shared |
Whether each of those is deductible, and how much of it, is a rule your tax authority sets and changes. Keep the record either way; take the question to your accountant with the figures in front of you.
The reports to run every month
- Patient balance and insurance claim tracked separately on the same treatment — review it monthly, not at year end.
- Insurer write-offs recognised against the scheduled fee, so the real yield per treatment is visible — review it monthly, not at year end.
- Treatment plans spanning periods recognised as the work is done, not when billed — review it monthly, not at year end.
- Associate dentist pay on a percentage, reconciled to the treatments they performed — review it monthly, not at year end.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best accounting software for dentists?
There is no single best one; there is a best one for a shape of business. For a dental practice, work down the criteria in the section above and stop at the first option that clears all of them — that list is short, usually two or three.
The criteria that eliminate most options fastest are: Patient balance and insurance claim tracked separately on the same treatment; Insurer write-offs recognised against the scheduled fee, so the real yield per treatment is visible; Treatment plans spanning periods recognised as the work is done, not when billed.
Give me a list of accounting software for dentists that offer the best security?
Ask for evidence rather than adjectives. The things worth checking, in order: an independent audit you can see (SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001, with the report date), encryption in transit and at rest, enforced multi-factor authentication, role-based permissions fine enough that a bookkeeper cannot export your whole ledger, an immutable audit trail of who changed what, where your data is hosted and under which country's law, and a stated backup and recovery position.
Then ask the question the brochure will not answer: can you see, after the fact, who changed a figure and what it was before? For a dental practice that audit trail is worth more than any single feature on the security page. A vendor who will send the audit report under NDA is telling you something; one who answers with the words "bank-grade security" is telling you something too.
Is there free accounting software for dentists?
There are free tiers, and they are real — but the limit is what matters, not the price. Find the cap before you move your books: how many documents or transactions a month, how many bank accounts, how many users, and whether the free tier includes the one thing you came for. HelloBooks has a free plan; /pricing lists what it covers today.
How much does accounting software for dentists cost?
Published prices move, and the figure that matters is the one including the module you actually need — inventory, payroll or multi-currency are often a tier up, so the headline price is rarely the price you pay. Price each shortlisted option at the tier that carries what you actually need, on the vendor's own page, on the day you decide.
How do I switch accounting software without losing my history?
Migrate on a period boundary and bring three things: opening trial balance, open customer and supplier balances, and your chart of accounts. Transaction history can usually stay in the old system as a read-only archive — attempting to re-import years of detail is where most migrations lose a week and a reconciliation.
Where to go next
- HelloBooks for dental practice
- The dental practice accounting software round-up
- HelloBooks in the United States
- HelloBooks in India
- HelloBooks pricing and what each plan includes
This guide is written for businesses in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Tax treatment differs by country — check the rule for yours before you act on it.
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