What you'll learn in Front Office Essentials

How the course works, the practice you'll work at, and how a front office keeps a dental practice running.

• Narrated lesson: How the front office keeps a practice running
• Reading: How this course works

The team, the mouth, tooth numbering, common procedures and their codes, in plain words.

• Narrated lesson: Dental fluency
• Reading: Speak the language of the dental office
• Simulation: Tooth numbers, terms and route slips
• Check: Module 1 check

What each common procedure is, how many visits and how much chair time it takes, and how to explain it to a patient in plain words.

• Narrated lesson: Dental procedures explained
• Reading: The procedures you'll schedule every day
• Simulation: Procedures, visits and chair time
• Practice call: What is a root canal, anyway?
• Check: Check: dental procedures

Reading a health history, the alerts that change a visit (premedication, allergies, blood thinners, pregnancy, sedation), and what the desk does about each.

• Narrated lesson: Health history and safety flags
• Reading: Health histories, alerts and sedation visits
• Simulation: Flag the health history
• Practice call: A health history update at check-in
• Check: Check: health history and safety flags

The seven moves of a great front-desk call, practiced on five calls you'll take on the job.

• Narrated lesson: The seven moves of a great call
• Reading: The seven moves of a great call
• Practice call: New patient, moved to town
• Practice call: Broken tooth, in pain
• Practice call: No insurance, shopping around
• Practice call: Canceling tomorrow's crown
• Practice call: Upset about a bill
• Check: Module 2 check

Build a productive, calm schedule: units, columns, prime time, emergency holds, the ASAP list and recall.

• Narrated lesson: Scheduling
• Reading: Building a productive, calm schedule
• Simulation: Schedule builder
• Practice call: Fill an opening from the ASAP list
• Check: Module 3 check

First and last impressions, collecting at check-out, and HIPAA at the front desk.

• Narrated lesson: Check-in, check-out and privacy
• Reading: Check-in, check-out and privacy at the desk
• Simulation: Can you share this?
• Practice call: A spouse asks about an account
• Simulation: Three things at once
• Practice call: Check-in with a copay due
• Check: Module 4 check

Who can consent and pay for a minor, divorced and separated parents, guardians, and how to handle a records request from start to finish.

• Narrated lesson: Families, minors and records
• Reading: Minors, families and records requests
• Simulation: Who can sign, who can see, what to send
• Practice call: A parent asks for a child's records
• Check: Check: families, minors and records

Plan types, the vocabulary, verification, building an estimate and coordination of benefits.

• Narrated lesson: Insurance basics
• Reading: Benefits, verification and estimates
• Reading: If your office takes HMO, Medicaid or other plans
• Simulation: Read a benefits breakdown
• Practice call: Verify benefits with an insurance company
• Check: Module 5 check

The claim life cycle, reading and posting EOBs, denials, follow-up and appeals.

• Narrated lesson: Claims and EOBs
• Reading: Claims, EOBs and follow-up
• Simulation: Read and post an EOB
• Practice call: Follow up on an unpaid claim
• Practice call: Explain an EOB to a patient
• Reading: Secondary insurance, HSA and FSA
• Practice call: A child covered by two plans
• Check: Module 6 check

Fee schedules, the patient ledger, adjustments, closing out the day and protecting the practice.

• Narrated lesson: Fees, ledgers and money controls
• Reading: Ledgers, end-of-day and money controls
• Simulation: Close out the day
• Check: Module 7 check

Hands-on practice in a mock practice management system: register a patient, attach insurance, book from a treatment plan, check out and post payments.

• Narrated lesson: Practice software lab
• Reading: A tour of dental practice software
• Simulation: Register, book, check out and post
• Check: Check: practice software

Presenting treatment estimates, payment options, collecting balances and Good Faith Estimates.

• Narrated lesson: Money conversations
• Reading: Talking about money with confidence and kindness
• Practice call: Present a crown estimate
• Practice call: A past-due balance
• Check: Module 8 check

Calming upset patients, holding policies kindly, and staying safe.

• Narrated lesson: Difficult conversations
• Reading: Scripts for hard moments
• Practice call: Running late
• Practice call: Upset about the wait
• Check: Module 9 check

The practice software, texting and consent, online booking, the after-hours AI assistant and security.

• Narrated lesson: Front desk tech and AI
• Reading: Front desk tech and working alongside AI
• Simulation: Morning inbox triage
• Check: Module 10 check

Keep patients coming back: recall, reaching overdue patients, and following up treatment that was never scheduled.

• Narrated lesson: Recall, reactivation and unscheduled treatment
• Reading: Bringing patients back
• Practice call: A patient overdue for a cleaning
• Practice call: A crown that was never scheduled
• Check: Module 11 check

Sending patients to specialists, tracking referrals, and making sure lab cases are back before the appointment.

• Narrated lesson: Referrals, specialists and lab cases
• Reading: Referrals and lab cases
• Simulation: Referral and lab-case tracker
• Practice call: A worried patient with a referral
• Check: Module 12 check

Your role when someone needs help in the waiting room: get the clinical team fast, support them, and keep everyone else calm and safe.

• Narrated lesson: Medical emergencies and safety
• Reading: The first 60 seconds
• Simulation: Front desk emergencies
• Check: Module 13 check

The numbers the front desk owns and how to run a useful morning huddle.

• Narrated lesson: Your numbers and the morning huddle
• Reading: Numbers that matter at the desk
• Simulation: Read the huddle sheet
• Check: Module 14 check

Your resume, the interview and your first 30 days at the desk.

• Narrated lesson: Getting hired
• Reading: Resume, interview and your first 30 days
• Practice call: Practice interview with the office manager
• Check: Module 15 check

A full day at the desk, one complex call, and the final exam.

• Simulation: A day at the desk
• Practice call: A family emergency
• Check: Final exam