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How to use the ClearDent dental ledger

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Find out why over 1,500 Canadian dentists trust ClearDent to keep their practices running smoothly.

Find out why over 1,500 Canadian dentists trust ClearDent to keep their practices running smoothly.

ClearDent’s dental ledger helps you quickly and easily access patient information to process treatments, enter payments, submit claims, print statements, process insurance, and more — all from one convenient location.

To get to the ClearDent ledger, search for the patient name then click on the “Ledger” tab at the top.

We’re going to take you through three common scenarios with our dental ledger: managing patient billing, processing payments, and making adjustments. For even more information, we also have ClearDent support videos available for our customers.

1. Billing patients

  • Select “Add” then choose “Bill”, or you can select the “Bill” button directly
  • Here, you will also see the patient name, date, primary and secondary insurances, main provider, fee schedule, and billing grid. Add any relevant notes in the pop-up window
  • To add a procedure, select from the drop-down menu
  • Type in the procedure and enter tooth number and surface if applicable
  • Update any linked policies with how much insurance will cover for that procedure
  • After you’re done adding all the procedures to this transaction, click “Next”
  • A submit claim window will pop up if the patient has insurance; it will only apply to the primary insurance
  • You have the option to print claim, submit by EDI, or submit later
  • A summary of the insurance claim will then pop up for you to verify; hit “Ok” to finish

2. Reconciling payments

There are three common cases when it comes to reconciling payments: adding a payment, underpayment, and overpayment.

Adding a regular payment

  • Select “Add”
  • Choose either “Patient payment” or “Family patient payment”
  • Select “Pay by” method from the drop-down menu
  • Select “Auto calculate”
  • Hit “Allocate” at the bottom of the window, then “Ok”
  • You’ll have the option to print a receipt or statement of the payment

The dental ledger will now be updated and the line of payment will turn in green.

Adding an underpayment

You may have to deal with underpayments when a patient is paying an outstanding balance with insufficient funds.

Once you navigate to the ledger (the tab will be red to indicate that the patient owes money), the running total is located on the bottom right.

  • Select “Add” and choose “Patient payment”
  • Next, select their payment method
  • If they were paying the full amount, you would select “Auto calculate” but in this case, they’re paying a partial amount, so select “Manual enter” and input the amount the patient is paying
  • Hit allocate. ClearDent distributes the paid amount to the codes that are outstanding following the first in, first out rule. If you want to use the payment for a specific code first, select “Clear” to allocate the payment manually by clicking the amount under Pmt Allocated column
  • Once you hit “Ok”, you’ll have an option to print receipt or statement

The dental ledger will now be updated and items that are completely paid will be highlighted in green with black text.

Adding an overpayment

If the patient only has cash and you don’t have change, they can request for the extra amount to be left on their account as a credit.

  • Select “Add” and choose “Patient payment”
  • Next, select their payment method
  • Choose “Manual enter” and type in the amount the patient is paying
  • Once you hit “Allocate”, you will see an unallocated amount with the overpayment
  • When you hit “Ok”, you’ll be asked what you’d like to do with the remaining balance
  • Select a provider to save the credit under and click “Ok”. In most cases, you would save the credit under the owner of the clinic. The reason being that if the patient never returns to use the credit and you can’t reach them to issue a refund, the credit becomes part of the house account.

The dental ledger will now be updated, and the running balance at the bottom will reflect the credit.

3. Making adjustments

While there are many different adjustment types, we’ll go over how to do a write off, transfer from insurance to insurance, as well as transfer from insurance to patient.

Performing a write off

  • Select any line in the transaction. It doesn’t matter which one, this is just to tell the system that the adjustment you want to make has to do with this transaction
  • Click “Add adjustment”
  • Choose the “Write off” drop-down: write off
  • Select either “ Auto calculate” or “Manual Enter” and click “Adjust all”
  • Select the amount that is outstanding for the patient and click “Ok”

There will now be a new adjustment line in the ledger, indicating a write off in the amount you selected for the patient.

Transferring a charge from primary insurance to secondary insurance

  • Select the primary insurance in the “From insurance” drop-down, then select “Auto calculate” and click “Adjust all”
  • Grab the full amount and click “Ok”

Unlike most adjustments, a transfer between insurances will leave two adjustment lines. One to show the transfer from the primary insurance to the patient and the second to transfer from patient to the secondary insurance. This is standard to show that it is moving from one carrier to another.

Transferring a charge from insurance to patient

Typically this is done when you receive the insurance cheque, and it’s lower than what was originally expected. You’ll need to subtract the charge from the insurance side of the dental ledger and move it to the customer side.


When you enter the insurance cheque, you can transfer it to the patient side of the ledger but if, for whatever reason, you don’t transfer it then, you can follow the steps below to make an adjustment and transfer the amount to the patient after the fact.

  • Click “Add adjustment” and select “Transfer to the patient”
  • Select the carrier from the drop-down if there are multiple
  • Select either “ Auto calculate” or “Manual enter”
  • Include a note with any relevant information about why the adjustment was made. You can choose to have the note appear on the statement or receipt when you print them
  • Click “Adjust all”
  • Click “Ok”

The dental ledger will now be updated with an additional pink line, indicating that the patient has a balance that has now been transferred. The running balance of the patient at the bottom will reflect the new balance.

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