Case Acceptance in Dentrix: What It Means and How to Manage It Better

Hey, my friends! I want to dig into something that comes up in nearly every coaching call I have with dental teams: case acceptance. What does it actually mean? How is it tracked in Dentrix? And most importantly, why should you care?

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This topic came up recently in a conversation I had with Robin Smith from Henry Schein One, sparked by the 2025 Catalyst Index report published by Jarvis Analytics. We spent a lot of time breaking down what case acceptance really means and how practices can use it as a meaningful metric for growth and performance.

Let’s get into it.

What Is Case Acceptance?

Case acceptance isn’t just whether a patient says "yes" in the chair. It’s how Dentrix tracks that “yes.”

In Dentrix, treatment is considered accepted when either:

1. You manually mark the treatment plan case as accepted, or
2. The treatment is completed and posted as set complete.

You can find this information in your Practice Advisor Report. On the first page (production page), it shows the total treatment diagnosed and the treatment accepted, giving you a percentage that becomes your case acceptance rate.

Here's where many practices get tripped up. Dentrix includes hygiene visits in the diagnosed and accepted numbers. I wasn’t in the focus group that made that decision (and personally, I wouldn’t include routine hygiene in case acceptance), but it’s important to know that going in.

What Counts as "Accepted"?

Let’s walk through a couple examples to make this real.

Example 1: Implant vs. Bridge Options
Let’s say you present a patient with two options, either a dental implant or a bridge, and they choose the implant. You help them schedule with the specialist for implant placement and collect a deposit for the abutment and crown at your office. Even if their treatment at your practice hasn’t been scheduled yet, in my opinion, that’s accepted treatment.

To reflect that in Dentrix, open the Dentrix treatment plan, click the little yellow manila folder (case status), and change the status to accepted. If you’ve linked the two treatment options (bridge and implant), marking one as accepted will automatically reject the other, which is perfect.

This will clean up your unscheduled treatment list and improve your case acceptance metrics.

Example 2: Patient Schedules Just One Tooth
Here’s another scenario: you present multiple areas of treatment, but the patient only wants to schedule the crown on tooth #3 right now. It’s September and the patient books the crown for October. If you want to capture case acceptance this month, you need to mark the treatment case as accepted now, not wait until it’s completed next month.

Want to take it a step further? Move that single crown into its own case (like "Crown UR #3") and mark just that case as accepted. That way, your numbers stay clean and you can still track the remaining treatment separately.

When to Reject a Case

Let’s say you’ve presented anterior veneers as part of an aesthetic case, but the patient finishes their fillings and perio treatment and says, “You know what? I’m good. I like my smile as it is.” That veneer case shouldn’t just sit in Dentrix forever.

Never delete a treatment plan unless it was entered by mistake. Instead, reject the case using that same yellow folder. This keeps your data accurate and removes clutter from your Treatment Manager report.

So, What’s a Good Case Acceptance Rate?

Based on current industry data, most practices land between 42–58% case acceptance. But the top 10% of practices? They’re hitting 75% or higher.

If you’re not sure what your number is, start by running your Practice Advisor Report. If you need help setting that up, you know where to find me.

Final Thoughts

Improving your case acceptance in Dentrix isn’t just about numbers, it’s about understanding what those numbers mean and how to use them to make better decisions. Marking accepted and rejected cases appropriately helps you clean up your reports, follow up more strategically, and measure progress more accurately.

And remember, if you’ve got questions or feel stuck, just reach out. I’m here to help you become a high-performing dental team.