How to Maximize Unused Dental Benefits with Dentrix Treatment Manager

As the seasons change and the year winds down, I’m reminded of one important opportunity that dental practices cannot afford to miss: unused patient benefits. For many practices, the last quarter of the year represents a surge of patients who are motivated to use up their benefits before they reset in January.

This is where strategy, timing, and the right tools can make a huge difference.

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Why Unused Dental Benefits Are a Big Opportunity

Most dental benefit plans range between $1,000 and $2,500 per year. While that may not cover everything a patient needs, it’s still a significant opportunity for both the practice and the patient. Unfortunately, a large percentage of those benefits go unused each year, use your dental benefits or lose them. That means lost production for the practice and lost value for patients who miss out on the care they deserve.

When to Launch Your Year-End Outreach Campaign

The best time to begin outreach is in September. By starting early, you give patients plenty of time to schedule and complete treatment before December. If you wait until the last month of the year, you’ll likely run into scheduling conflicts and overwhelm both your team and your patients.

How Dentrix Treatment Manager Helps Fill Schedules

This is where Dentrix Treatment Manager becomes a game-changer. I like to call it “mining for gold” because that’s exactly what it feels like when you uncover millions of dollars in unscheduled treatment that is just sitting there waiting to be scheduled. If you’ve never run this report, you’ll be amazed at the number of opportunities it uncovers.

Step-by-Step: Finding Patients with Remaining Benefits

Inside Dentrix, the Treatment Manager can be accessed either from the appointment book (look for the green chair with the dollar sign) or directly from the patient chart. This report is a real game-changer when it comes to pulling insights from your system, learn more in Best Dentrix Report for Making Data-Driven Decisions About Your Dental Practice. When you open it:

• Select “Patient” as the status to filter out inactive and non-patients.
• Adjust the “Dated From” field to focus on treatment planned within the last 6 to 12 months.
• Use the insurance filter at the bottom to target patients who still have remaining benefits.

Once the report generates, sort the column labeled “Next Appointment” so that all patients without a scheduled appointment float to the top. Those are the patients you want to reach out to first.

Make Outreach a Weekly Routine, Not a One-Time Push

I encourage practices to designate a team member to work on this report at least a couple of times per week. Consistency is the key. Patients often walk out of hygiene without scheduling their treatment because they want to “think about it,” “check their schedule,” or “discuss finances.” If you don’t follow up, those cases often get lost. The treatment manager makes sure they don’t.

The Benefits of Consistent Follow-Up

I once worked with a practice that uncovered more than $3 million in unscheduled treatment by running the Treatment Manager. Think about that. Millions of dollars of work was sitting in the software, but not on the schedule. By systematically following up, they were able to fill their doctors’ schedules and prevent lost production.

Final Thoughts: Turning Unscheduled Treatment into Completed Care

At the end of the day, maximizing unused benefits is about more than production numbers. It’s about helping patients get the care they need and deserve. By building relationships, making scheduling easy, and using tools like Dentrix Treatment Manager, your team can ensure that no patient benefit goes to waste.

So, as you head into the end of the year, make this part of your weekly process. Encourage your patients to use their benefits before they expire, and watch how it transforms your schedule, your production, and your patients’ health.