Open Dental Adjusted Production Gotchas
Last updated: February 1, 2026
Data accuracy is SO important to everything we do at TeamCare! We take it very seriously and investigate any & all reported discrepancy between TC and the Open Dental.
We've had a handful of practices report mismatching data and it has become an important "gotcha". So we wrote this article to make sure that when comparing numbers from Open Dental to TC that the setup is apples to apples.
The main point:
Open Dental can consider "adjustments" on two different date stamps, and we have to choose the appropriate method! If the "wrong" method is selected, numbers will be drastically different. The correct & aligned method to use the insurance payment date.
Details
Open Dental has two ways of addressing the date to which production adjustments are applied. Choosing the appropriate option will have a significant and drastic affect on matching the reporting in TeamCare:
Procedure Date - open dental does an estimation on what it expects the write-off to be after the insurance claim is received. But this is only an estimate. And when using this reporting mechanism, the adjustments are applied for exampled on 1/1/2025 when the claim is sent.
Insurance Payment Date - when the claim is received, this is the actual adjustment amount and the closure date that it's received on. This is the way that TeamCare recognizes adjustments since it not an estimate and it is the actual final insurance claim as is posted to the patient's ledger.
Here is an image of Open Dental's reporting mechanism with a very important radio button that selects how OD will present its adjusted production given the date types above. Please check reporting on your side to confirm that you are using option 2 which recognizes dates on final close-date, rather than recognizing adjustments on send date. Again, these will give drastically different results.