Create treatment estimates that show fees, estimated insurance contributions, and patient costs.
What are treatment estimates?
Treatment estimates help you:
Show a clear breakdown of proposed treatment costs
Include estimated insurance contributions
Communicate expected patient out-of-pocket costs
Support pre-determination workflows
Estimates are created from a patient’s treatment plan and can be reviewed before sharing.
Creating a treatment estimate
To create an estimate:
Open the patient record and go to the 'Chart' tab
Navigate to the treatment plan
Click 'Create estimate' at the bottom of the treatment plan
Dentally will automatically:
Pull through selected treatments
Apply your fee schedule
Factor in any linked insurance plans or pre-determinations
You can review and adjust the estimate before finalising. For more information on generating estimates read our guide here.
Previewing an estimate
A Preview panel shows how the finished estimate will look while you create or edit it, and updates automatically as you change the template, practitioner, body text, footnote or payment terms.
Click 'Show preview' or 'Hide preview' to show or hide the panel
A 'Template' must be selected before the preview will load
The preview matches the PDF and the emailed estimate
📝 Please note: Estimate preview is being rolled out to practices gradually. If you do not see a Preview panel, it is not yet available for your practice.
Hiding insurance details on an estimate
If your practice shows estimated insurance contributions on estimates, you can remove the insurance coverage breakdown from an individual estimate before sharing it with a patient. This is useful when you want the patient to see treatment fees without an insurance breakdown, or when the breakdown is not appropriate for that conversation.
Create or edit an estimate from the treatment plan
Turn on the 'Hide Insurance Details' toggle
Check the Preview panel to confirm the breakdown is no longer shown
Save, print or email the estimate as usual
📝 Please note: 'Hide Insurance Details' only changes what appears on the estimate document shown to the patient. It does not remove or change insurance plan information stored in Dentally, and it does not affect insurance claims.
📝 Please note: Insurance details are shown by default, so you need to turn the toggle on for each estimate where you want the breakdown hidden. Your choice is saved on that estimate.
The toggle may be unavailable if the patient has no insurance plan configured, there are no insurance details to show on that estimate, or the selected template hides planned treatment items and fees. If it is greyed out, hover over it to see a short explanation.
How insurance is applied
Dentally calculates both:
Estimated insurance contribution
Patient responsibility
This is shown on both the treatment plan and the estimate document. Each treatment item on the estimate is coloured based on how the value was calculated:
🟢 Green – Based on pre-determination response
🟡 Yellow – Based on plan rules (not yet confirmed)
How estimates work with or without pre-determinations
Without a pre-determination
Insurance is estimated using plan rules (e.g. coverage %, limits/rules)
Values are indicative and may change after submission
With a pre-determination
Uses the insurer’s returned values
Patient costs are more accurate
Any exclusions or adjustments are already included
For help creating predeterminations see our guide here.