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Email templates · Dentist

Email template to dispute a dental bill

A dental bill arrived that does not match what you were told. Common versions: you were quoted one number at the chair and billed a larger one, you were charged for work you do not remember having done, your insurance paid less than the office estimated, or a procedure was billed under a code your plan does not cover when a covered code would have fit. Dental offices are small businesses and billing mistakes are common and usually fixable. Writing to them gets the specifics on the record and gives the office manager something concrete to check against the chart.

Before you send

  • The statement itself, with the date of service, each procedure code, and each amount.
  • Whatever you were told beforehand: a printed treatment plan, a text, or your own note of the number you were quoted and who said it.
  • Your insurance explanation of benefits, the document your plan sends showing what it paid and why, if insurance was involved.
  • Which specific line you are disputing and why, in one sentence. Do not dispute the whole bill if only one item is wrong.
  • What you want to happen: the charge removed, the claim resubmitted with a corrected code, or the bill reduced to the amount you were quoted.
Subject Question about statement dated [statement date] for [your name] 
Hi [office manager name or Billing team],

I received a statement dated [statement date] for treatment on [date of service], and one item does not match what I understood I was agreeing to.

The charge in question: [procedure code and description, amount].

Before the appointment I was told [what you were told, and by whom, and when]. The statement shows [what the statement says instead], a difference of [amount].

Could you please:

- Send me the treatment notes and the codes submitted for that date
- Confirm what was quoted to me beforehand, from your own records
- Correct the charge to [the amount you understood], or explain in writing why the higher amount is correct

[If insurance is involved: My plan's explanation of benefits says the claim was processed as code. If a different code better describes what was done, please resubmit it.]

I'm not disputing the rest of the statement and will pay that portion on time. Could you reply by [date, about ten days out]?

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Account or patient number]

Everything in brackets is yours to fill in. Keep the rest as it is or change the tone to match how you write.

After you send

  • Many offices simply adjust the charge once a person looks at the chart, especially when you quote what you were told and by whom.
  • If the answer is that the code is correct, ask whether an alternate code also describes the work and whether they will resubmit it to your insurer. Offices can and do resubmit.
  • Ask them to hold the account out of collections while the dispute is open, and get that in writing. An unpaid disputed balance sent to collections is much harder to unwind.
  • If the office will not budge and you believe the billing was improper, your state dental board and your insurance plan's grievance process both accept complaints.

Or don't send it yourself

Forward the job to myagent@standinfor.me and let StandIn run the whole thread.

StandIn is an email assistant that handles conversations with businesses for you. You write it one email saying what you need. It writes to the business, waits for the answer, follows up when they go quiet, pushes back on the number when it should, and brings the results back to your inbox for you to decide. You don't need to install an app or sign up. The first email you send is already the start of the task.

Hand this to StandIn opens an email to myagent@standinfor.me with the job already written out

To myagent@standinfor.me Subject Get a dental bill corrected for me 
Hi StandIn,

I'd like you to dispute a charge on a dental bill and get it corrected or explained in writing.

The office: [dentist or practice name, and email if I have it].
The statement: [date, account number, total].
The charge I'm disputing: [code, description, amount].
What I was told beforehand: [the quote I was given, by whom, and when].
Insurance: [plan name, or none].

Ask for the treatment notes and submitted codes, push for the charge to be corrected, and ask them to keep the account out of collections while we sort it out.

Thanks,
[Your name]

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