The Open Dental Tools

You’re Probably Ignoring

(and Why They’re Game-Changers)

Let’s be real, most of us learn Open Dental on the fly. You click around, ask a few questions, figure out enough to survive, and then just keep doing things the same way… forever.

But here’s the truth: Open Dental has so many foundational tools hiding in plain sight, the kind that can save hours, prevent errors, and make your whole team’s life easier.

In this session, I walked through a few that are total must-haves, and if you haven’t used them yet, don’t worry… Tomorrow’s a new day.

1. Unearned Income: The “Wait, Why Is My Report Weird?” Problem

Unearned income is money that isn’t attached to a procedure, think prepayments, overpayments, or credits that never got allocated correctly.

When this report is off, everything else gets messy: income totals, aging, even production numbers.

So how do you fix it?

Run the Unearned Income Report. Make it one of your favorites (literally, set it as a Favorite Report).

Use Income Transfers. They’re your magic wand in Open Dental. Anything overpaid, underpaid, or unallocated gets automatically reassigned to the right procedure.

Never alter historical data. Ever. No matter how tempting it is.

And for prevention? Rename your unearned income types to be super clear (like “Prepayment – Ortho” instead of “Unearned 1”). Then make sure your database is set to allow prepayments to attach to treatment-planned procedures.

Bottom line: if you can do an income transfer, do it.

2. Tasking: The End of Sticky Note Chaos

Once upon a time, I had a desk covered in Post-its. Bright pink ones, neon yellow ones, each with something “urgent” scribbled on it. Sound familiar?

That’s where Tasking comes in. It’s Open Dental’s built-in communication tool, think of it like your in-house email system.

You can:

• Assign tasks directly to team members

• Subscribe to updates (like signing up for email alerts)

• Keep everything tied to the patient chart - secure, trackable, and searchable

No more sticky notes that end up on the bottom of someone’s shoe. Tasking keeps your to-dos where they belong, inside Open Dental.

3. Refunds: Why Your Reports Lie

Ever run your production and income report and wonder why Open Dental says you made more than what’s in your bank account?

Yep, refunds.

If you’ve been entering refunds as adjustments, you’re not alone, but it’s skewing your reports. Adjustments reduce production, making it look like you produced less and collected more.

The fix:

Post refunds as negative payments (not adjustments).

If you’ve done it wrong in the past, don’t panic, and don’t touch old data. Just post a counter-adjustment, then a negative payment, and end with an income transfer.

And repeat after me: Never. Alter. Historical. Data.

4. The Outstanding Claims Report: Stop Guessing What’s Missing

If you’ve ever wondered which claims are still floating in insurance limbo, this is your new best friend.

Run the Outstanding Claims Report regularly, and add it to your Favorites list so it’s just one click away.

Pro tips:

• Filter out preauths (you’ll thank me).

• Use Custom Tracking with days suppressed so you can see what’s truly overdue.

• Make sure your date filters are right, that’s usually why claims “disappear.”

This report gives you a clean, accurate view of what’s still waiting to be paid, and where to focus your follow-ups.

The Big Picture: Foundations Build Freedom

I want to reminded you of something simple and powerful:

“Each of these tools, unearned income, tasking, refunds, outstanding claims, solves one problem on its own. But together? They create a foundation that’s steady, reliable, and built for growth.”

When your foundations are strong, your systems flow. Your numbers make sense. Your team trusts what they see.