Industry
Payments software for dental practices
Dentistry runs on two payment problems: the patient portion left after insurance, and the in-house membership plan sold to uninsured patients. Enterprise Pay Gateway bills membership plans monthly or annually with automatic retries, takes deposits on high-value treatment plans, and collects patient balances through hosted checkout links. Payouts go to your own bank account on a fixed monthly subscription plus a platform fee from 0.20% to 0.75%, with Stripe's processing billed separately by Stripe.
Last updated 9 September 2026
Typical treatment plan
$400–$9,000
Implants, orthodontics and full-mouth work need deposits and staged payments, not a single charge at the desk.
Membership plan fit
High
In-house plans for uninsured patients are now mainstream and depend entirely on reliable recurring billing.
Patient balance leakage
Material
Balances left after insurance adjudication are the most commonly written-off revenue in a practice.
Where the money leaks
Post-insurance balances go uncollected
Statements mailed weeks after treatment collect poorly. A checkout link sent the moment the balance is known collects far more of it.
Treatment plans stall at the quote
Large cases are accepted verbally and never started. Taking a deposit at acceptance converts intent into a scheduled case.
Membership plans billed by hand
In-house plans administered on a spreadsheet lose members every time a card expires. Scheduled billing with retries stops it.
No consolidated revenue view
Production, collections and plan revenue live in different systems. One payment dashboard shows what actually landed in the bank.
The four payment flows you need
- 1
Treatment deposit
Send a deposit link at case acceptance, credited against the treatment plan total.
- 2
Staged payments
Collect at defined treatment milestones rather than one balloon payment at the end.
- 3
Membership plan
Bill monthly or annually with retries and a self-serve portal for card updates.
- 4
Patient balance
Send a checkout link as soon as the post-insurance balance is known.
What dental payment processing costs
Stripe bills card processing directly to your account at its published rates — 2.9% plus 30 cents for US online card transactions at the time of writing.
Enterprise Pay Gateway charges a fixed monthly subscription from $49 plus a platform fee: 0.75% on Starter, 0.60% on Growth, 0.40% on Pro, negotiated 0.20%–0.35% for groups and DSOs.
A practice collecting $130,000 a month fits Pro: $199 plus roughly $520 in platform fees, alongside Stripe's processing.
In-house membership plans that hold members
A membership plan only earns if the card keeps working across years, not months. Staged retries, expiry updates and a customer billing portal are the difference between a plan that grows and one that quietly shrinks.
Define clearly what pauses when payment fails, and communicate it at signup so enforcement is never a surprise.
Compliance and record boundaries
Card data never touches your systems with hosted checkout, which keeps your PCI obligation at the simplest self-assessment level.
Clinical records stay in your practice management software. Payment records only hold amount, date, product name and the payer's email — keep treatment detail out of checkout descriptions.
Alternatives for dental practices
Frequently asked questions
- Can a dental practice run an in-house membership plan?
- Yes. Set the plan up as a recurring product billed monthly or annually, with automatic retries on declined cards and a self-serve portal where patients update their card.
- How do we collect balances after insurance pays?
- Send a hosted checkout link as soon as the patient portion is known. Collection rates on same-week links are far higher than on mailed statements.
- Can we take deposits on large treatment plans?
- Yes. Create a deposit product at case acceptance and collect the remainder in staged payments at treatment milestones.
- What does it cost?
- Stripe's processing fee plus a platform fee. Enterprise Pay Gateway charges $49 to $199 a month plus 0.75% down to 0.40%, with negotiated 0.20%–0.35% pricing for groups.
More on dental practices payments
- Dental payment software: patient balances, plans and treatment deposits
What dental payment software should handle: patient balances after insurance, treatment plans, deposits, card-on-file recalls and separated fees.
- Dental patient payment plans: collecting large treatment balances over time
How dental practices set up in-house patient payment plans for crowns, implants and orthodontics: instalment schedules and handling failed payments.
- Dental membership plans: in-house cover that bills itself every month
How dental practices run in-house membership plans for uninsured patients: pricing, monthly or annual billing, renewals and handling failed card payments.
- Dental front desk collections: getting paid before the patient leaves
Practical dental front desk habits that cut outstanding balances: card on file, texted checkout links, QR payment at the counter and automatic reminders.
- Dental payment software vs. your practice management system
Where practice management systems stop and dental payment software starts: patient balances, plans, deposits and card handling built for collecting.
- Collecting the patient portion after insurance pays
How to collect the patient portion once a dental claim settles: card on file with authorisation, automatic charges, texted links and reminders that work.
- Treatment plan deposits: getting the yes before the chair time
How dental practices use treatment plan deposits to confirm large cases: how much to ask for, when to take it, and handling refunds and reschedules fairly.
- Text-to-pay for dental practices: balances paid the same day
Why texted payment links collect dental balances faster than statements, what the message should say, and scheduling follow-ups without phoning patients.
- Dental payment software for multi-provider practices and associates
How to run payments in a practice with associates: attribute collections per provider, control staff access, and produce reports associates rely on.
- Recall and hygiene reminders that include a payment link
How to combine dental recall and hygiene reminders with outstanding balance links, so patients book and clear what they owe in the same message.
- Orthodontic contracts: long payment plans that don't fail silently
How to run long orthodontic payment plans without silent failures: written authorisation, automatic retries, card expiry handling and an exception list.
- Dental practice card fees: where the money actually goes
A clear breakdown of dental credit card processing fees: Stripe's processing rate, the platform fee, and the collection costs that dwarf both of them.
- ACH and bank transfer for large dental cases
When to offer ACH instead of card for large dental cases, how settlement timing differs, and presenting bank payment as the default on high-value invoices.
- Refunds, credits and overpayments in a dental ledger
How to handle dental refunds and overpayments cleanly: refund to the original card, use credit only when the patient agrees, and keep the ledger honest.
- DSO and group practice reporting across locations
What group dental practices and DSOs need from payment reporting: per-site collections, provider attribution, receivables ageing and finance exports.
- Dental payment software: the yearly collections audit
An annual collections audit for dental practices: same-day collection rate, receivables ageing, failed plans, outstanding refunds and a fee tier review.
Start taking deposits this week
Create your account, verify with Stripe, and share your first checkout link. Card processing is provided by Stripe under its own agreement with you.