How to Choose a Dental Third-Party Financing Company: A Checklist for Practices

Find the Right Third-Party Financing Company for Your Dental Practice

Dental patients frequently incur out-of-pocket costs, especially for restorative treatment plans, orthodontics, periodontal care, implants and cosmetic dentistry. CareCredit’s 2026 Out-of-Pocket Healthcare Expenses report found that among surveyed cardholders who received dental care in the past 12 months (77%), 56% had out-of-pocket costs averaging $1,316.¹

For dental practices, financing options can empower their patients particularly if they are easily accessible, simple to use and feature convenient digital interfaces. These financing options can also help create better patient financial journey outcomes.

This practical checklist can help you select a financing partner that fits your consult-to-checkout workflow, eases patient cost concerns and supports a better patient experience. The right dental patient financing partner can also improve your team’s financial discussions and help more patients move forward with recommended treatment.

Strengths to Look For In a Third-Party Financing Partner for Dental Practices

Choose a finance partner that complements your daily dental operations and makes it simple for patients to say “yes” to care.

• Extensive experience in dentistry. Look for a patient financing company with a proven dental track record, from hygienist hand-off to treatment presentations and multi-visit case scheduling. Experience matters when financing care such as full-mouth rehabilitation, multi-unit implant cases or aligner plans.
• Customized financing. Seek a partner that can offer a range of promotional periods and options to match different case sizes without disrupting your treatment coordinator’s operational flow. Ideally, terms and timing of available financing options would align with treatments such as single crowns, multi-tooth restorations, implants, clear aligners or comprehensive periodontal therapy.
• Financial transparency. Favor partners that clearly outline provider fees and patient terms upfront. Transparent, consistent information helps your team present options confidently and helps patients understand their financial responsibilities before they leave your practice.
• Comprehensive, hands-on support. Prioritize financing companies that provide training, tools and on-demand resources for front desk leads, hygienists, treatment coordinators and billing teams. Look for tools like conversation guides for financing, fee-breakdown worksheets, a payment calculator, QR codes and custom application links.
• Easy prequalification with a soft credit check. Patients value a quick way to see if they prequalify without a hard credit check, such as a QR code during the consult, a tablet at checkout or a link in text reminders. Seek third-party financing companies for dental practices that offer this capability.
• Usage flexibility. Identify potential partner companies that offer dental third-party financing for a wide range of restorative, orthodontic, periodontal and cosmetic treatments, including multi-phase care.
• Wide reach and a trusted network. A large, established provider network proves industry trust and can help your dental practice appeal to those who are loyal to your partner company while also reinforcing your own patient satisfaction.

Prioritizing these strengths in your search can help you choose the best finance partner that supports case acceptance at checkout, keeps your team’s workflow smooth and helps grow your practice.

4 Red Flags to Avoid When Selecting a Dental Third-Party Financing Partner

When evaluating potential partners, it’s not always enough to compare benefits — your practice also needs to spot the warning signs that can hurt cash flow, patient trust and long-term growth. Steer clear of companies that:

• Advertise “low rates” but shift real cost back to your practice. Watch for teaser pricing that looks attractive upfront, then turns into higher fees, surprise surcharges or rate changes tied to patient credit scores or financing terms. If you can’t easily predict your true cost transaction, it’s a concern.
• Lack real dental experience and workflow understanding. A partner that doesn’t understand consult flow, treatment plan presentation, case acceptance, dental estimates and scheduling can create friction for your team and confusion for patients. If they can’t support how dentistry is actually sold and delivered, they’ll slow you down, not help you grow.
• Win business by misrepresenting competitors. Beware of partners who rely on vague comparison or misleading claims. If they can’t compete on transparent pricing, proven results, and service reliability, their approach can damage trust — yours and the patient’s.
• Delay funding or change terms in ways that disrupt your revenue. If a finance partner withholds funding, delays deposits, refuses to pay based on a patient’s missed payment or unexpectedly drops approved patients, it creates unnecessary financial exposure for your practice. Your partner should reduce risk, not introduce it.

Avoiding companies that exhibit these warning signs can help you make a smart choice that better supports the patient experience while protecting your practice’s reputation and revenue.

Best Practices for Evaluating Dental Financing Partners

When evaluating potential partners, make sure that you:

• Ask a lot of detailed questions. Ask the sales representative about terms, fees, promotional plan options, training and how applications are started (e.g. QR codes or links). Also, do options align with common case sizes (single crown, multi-unit implants, clear aligners, full-mouth rehab, periodontal therapy)?
• Review the website and offers for completeness. Look for clear and transparent descriptions of plan options, staff support resources and the patient experience.
• Map the workflow for patients and your team. Confirm how financing fits into a dental practice’s process from exam and diagnosis through treatment plan presentation and checkout, especially when it comes to phased or multi-visit cases. Learn how patients progress from awareness to application acceptance to paying for dental care over time.
• Check on accessible resources for treatment coordinators. Are payment calculators, cost worksheets and scripts for financing discussions provided? Is training offered specifically for front desk staff, hygienists, treatment coordinators and billing teams?
• Get feedback from other dental practices. Seek honest input, positive or negative, from other dental practices with a similar case mix and volume profile who have or are currently partnering with your potential partner.
• Read all terms, conditions and fine print. Know what you’re getting into with any potential partner. Read everything, and have your attorneys and business advisors read everything too.
• Check online reviews and the Better Business Bureau rating. Look for patterns in patient reviews, both good and bad. Learn a potential partner’s business reputation and how it’s viewed online.

Identify the dental patient financing companies you have the capacity to evaluate, then compare their strengths and weaknesses. Document your findings and share them with practice leadership and stakeholders to select the best fit for your patients and practice.

Why Dental Practices Choose CareCredit as Their Third-Party Patient Financing Partner

If you want a proven solution for dental third-party financing, CareCredit offers scale, transparency and practical tools to support patient decisions and practice operations. With nearly 40 years of market expertise, CareCredit is invested in the professions they serve.

Dental practices choose CareCredit for a variety of reasons, including:

• An extensive provider network. The CareCredit network includes more than 290,000 providers and retail locations across 50+ health and wellness specialties, including dental, vision, cosmetic, hearing and veterinary.
• Fast, easy application process with no hard credit check to prequalify. Patients can prequalify for CareCredit without a hard credit inquiry. The application takes under 60 seconds, decisions are typically in under 6 seconds and approved patients can use the account immediately.
• It’s widely used. One in 10 US adult residents has or has had the CareCredit credit card.²
• Built for frequent use. Cardholders can receive special financing on qualifying purchases for a variety of promotional periods from six to 60 months, depending on the provider and offer availability.* Approximately 45% of CareCredit cardholders who made a purchase during 2024 returned to the same provider or retailer during the same year for additional purchases.²
• Maximum financial transparency for dental patients and practices. CareCredit merchant fees are clearly communicated at the start and stay consistent.
• No annual fee.** All rates and terms are spelled out in detail. There is no annual fee and no down payment unless a provider requires it.
• Quick payment turnaround. Practices are paid directly within two business days. There is no recourse even if cardholders delay payment or default.***
• Easy to implement in your workflow, plus training and tools for your team. CareCredit integrates with leading practice management platforms such as Dentrix, Denticon and OpenDental to help streamline staff workflows and support patient pre-approvals. CareCredit also provides onboarding and ongoing support, along with practical resources — digital and in-office materials, scripts, a payment calculator, QR codes, custom links and cost worksheets.

Together, these resources and your team’s expertise can help support timely case acceptance, streamline checkout and keep your flow of payments predictable.

Learn more: Ask your CareCredit representative about the Provider Quick Start Guide and the Tools & Resources checklist to help your team present financing options confidently.

A Dental Patient Financing Solution for Your Practice

Want to help more patients move forward with the dental care they want or need? Consider offering the CareCredit credit card as a financing solution. CareCredit allows patients to pay for out-of-pocket dental care costs over time while helping enhance the payments process for your practice. A key advantage for many practices is promotional financing, starting with an everyday six-month option. For purchases of $200+, promotional financing terms start at six months.*

When you accept CareCredit, patients can see if they prequalify with no impact to their credit score, and those who apply, if approved, can take advantage of special financing on qualifying purchases.* Additionally, you will be paid directly within two business days.

Learn more about the CareCredit credit card as a dental patient financing solution, or start the provider enrollment process by filling out this form.

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The CareCredit health and wellness credit card helps improve the payment experience for patients and clients, and your financial performance.

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