Bookkeeping for Dental Practices
A dentist knows what the month felt like, and the statements say something else. The reason is almost always the same, and it is not an error: production is what was billed, collections are what insurance and patients actually paid, and a clinic that thinks in production is reading a number the bank will never show. Everything else on this page follows from closing that gap. Available to practices in Canada and the United States. Tax filing is Canadian: a US practice keeps its own preparer and we do the books underneath.
What's included
- Production reconciled to collections every month, so the figure on the statements is money that arrived rather than work that was billed
- Insurance receivables carried in the general ledger rather than left in the practice management system, with the write-off between billed and allowed recorded as what it is instead of appearing as a shortfall nobody can explain
- Predeterminations and assigned benefits tracked separately from ordinary patient balances, because they age differently and chasing them is a different job
- Associate and hygienist percentage splits recorded so every share is visible, and whose receivable it is settled rather than assumed
- Contractor versus employee classification flagged early, because it is decided during the year and expensive to be wrong about in either direction
- Lab costs matched to the case that incurred them, so a crown that cost more than it billed is visible while it still means something
- Equipment financing split into interest, principal and depreciation, because the payment is not the expense and at year end those are three separate figures from two schedules
- For Canadian practices, grouped here rather than scattered through the page: the HST split where most dental services are exempt and the retail products sold beside them are not, which is what governs input tax credits; capital cost allowance on financed equipment; contractor payments reported on a T4A; and the professional corporation's own corporate return, with the shareholder loan account kept explicable
Who it's for
- Practices where the month felt busy and the statements do not agree with it
- Clinics carrying insurance receivables nobody has reconciled since the software produced them
- Owners paying associates or hygienists on a percentage and unsure whose receivable it is
How it runs
The actual sequence, start to finish.
- 01
Start from the practice management reports
The day sheet, the production and collections summary and the insurance ageing. These are financial reports the software already produces, and they are the whole input. Nothing clinical is needed and nothing clinical is asked for.
- 02
Reconcile production to collections to the bank
Three figures that should tie and usually do not on the first pass. What was billed, what was collected, and what reached the account. The differences are adjustments, write-offs and timing, and naming which is which is most of the work.
- 03
Settle the associates and the lab
Splits recorded so each practitioner's share is visible, and lab invoices matched to cases rather than to the month the bill arrived. Both change what the margin per provider actually is, and both are easier in the month than in March.
- 04
Close monthly against it
A monthly close on an agreed date, with the corporation's own statements built as the year goes rather than reconstructed for the return.
What it costs
Priced by monthly transaction volume, then scoped for how many providers are on a split and whether insurance is assigned. A single-chair practice and a four-operatory clinic with three associates are different files at a similar transaction count.
Questions about bookkeeping for dental practices
Does any of this need access to our charts?
No, and we do not want it. Everything the bookkeeping needs is in the financial reports your practice management system already produces: the day sheet, production and collections, the insurance ageing and the practitioner splits. We do not need, ask for, or receive access to patient records. Clinical charts, radiographs and treatment notes are not part of bookkeeping and are not something we ask for. It keeps your obligations under health privacy law where they belong, which is inside your practice, rather than extending them to a supplier who has no reason to be there.
Which practice management system do you work in?
None of them, and that is deliberate rather than a gap. Your practice management system is a clinical record as well as a booking and billing system, and it is not an accounting system: the books sit in your accounting file underneath it. We work from the financial reports yours produces, whichever one you run, and reconcile those into the accounting file. If your software can export a production and collections summary and an insurance ageing, we can work from it.
Why do our statements never match how the month felt?
Because the feeling is production and the statements are collections. Production is what was billed for work done. Collections are what insurance and patients actually paid, after the write-off between what you billed and what the plan allows, and after the weeks it takes a claim to settle. A busy month with heavy insurance work can produce a strong production figure and an ordinary bank balance, and nothing is wrong. Seeing both numbers beside each other every month is the fix, and it is the first thing we set up.
We are a US practice. What here applies to us?
Everything above the Canadian group: production against collections, insurance receivables and the allowed-amount write-off, associate and hygienist splits, classification, lab matching, and equipment financing. Those are how a dental practice earns rather than how one country taxes it. What does not apply is the Canadian tax block: HST, capital cost allowance, the T4A and the Canadian corporate return. In the United States, contractor payments are reported federally on the 1099-NEC, and sales tax on retail products sold alongside treatment is set state by state and varies, so we will not tell you what yours is on a web page. We keep the records that reporting is built from. US returns are filed by you or your tax preparer, not by us.
Our associates are paid a percentage. Does that change the books?
It changes what the practice's revenue actually is. A percentage split recorded net makes the clinic look roughly half the size it is and hides what each provider contributes. Recorded gross, with the associate's share shown as its own cost, the revenue is real and the margin per provider is a figure you can act on. Settling whose receivable it is matters for the same reason: if the clinic bills and collects, the receivable is the clinic's and the split is a payment out of it.
Can you work with my accountant at year end?
Yes, and it is the arrangement we prefer. They get a file that reconciles: production to collections to the bank, the insurance ageing explained, associate splits settled, lab accrued at the cutoff, and the equipment schedules beside the loan. We do not issue compilation, review or audit reports. Those are licensed engagements that belong with a CPA firm.
More questions answered on the FAQ page.
Often paired with
Bookkeeping
Monthly reconciliation, coded transactions, and financial statements, every month.
Financial Reporting
Custom KPI dashboards and reporting beyond the standard monthly statements.
Bookkeeping for Allied Health Practices
How associates get paid, who owns the receivable, and the exempt versus taxable split that decides what a Canadian clinic can claim back.
Ready to talk about bookkeeping for dental practices?
A free 20-minute consultation, no obligation.