Frequently Asked Questions About Bento: In-Office Plans

Bento uses award-winning technology to connect patients and dentists directly through a modern app-based experience. With Bento, creating and setting up in-office plans has never been easier for dental practices. Create a Bento account and start setting up in-office plans for your practice in the Bento Dentist Portal within minutes. In-office plans are completely customizable and can be made available to your patients within 48 hours.

Dentists are not required to join the Bento network when using Bento to administer an in-office plan. During account creation, dentists can select to opt out of the network when creating an in-office plan.

Yes, you can! Dentists do not need to join the network to utilize Bento’s in-office plans.

Dentists can create and launch plans for free. A small per member, per month subscription fee is charged when patients purchase your plan. All ADA members receive a 20% discount on their monthly subscription fee. There are no setup fees to offer an in-office plan with Bento.

Example: A patient purchases a $360 “Preventative Services Package” and pays a monthly amount of $30. Bento retains a $4 ($5 for non-ADA members) per patient per month platform fee and the dentist receives all remaining plan and service revenue.

Of course! You can create as many plans as you like and customize them for your patient base. Use any CDT code and price your plan how you want to. If you have multiple practice locations, you can control which in-office plans are available at which locations.

Once your plan has been created you will receive a “practice plan code” via email. Patients can get signed up directly at your front desk using the Bento Dentist portal or for a self-service option they can download the Bento Dental App on their smartphone to purchase the plan.

Bento provides a whole kit of easy to use one click edit marketing material for offices to market their plans. Access to the digital media kit can be found in the Bento Dentist Marketing Kit.

Bento uses a secure electronic funds transfer (EFT) to provide quick, safe, and streamlined payment to dentists using its platform. This ensures that timely payment is made directly from the patient to the dentist without waiting for a check.

Bento has streamlined the discount selection step during the in-office plan set up process. Offices can select a light, moderate, or heavy discount based on the fees in your local area without having to manually enter each service fee. These discounted rates are only available to patients who have purchased your in-office plan.

After a patient completes their purchase of an in-office plan through the Bento Dental app, Bento will directly deposit funds via electronic funds transfer (EFT) to the bank account associated with your practice. Payments are processed within 7 business days.

For any patient portion due, you may process payments using HSA funds in your office. At this time Bento’s mobile app only accepts credit cards.

Bento works with all practice management systems. To view how you can setup your practice management to work with Bento, visit our resource center Bentopedia.

For immediate support visit bento.net/bentopedia to see frequently asked questions and view how-to’s for setting up and using the Bento Dentist Portal. Still have additional questions? Contact Bento at smile@bento.net or call 800.734.8484 for additional assistance.

Bento will process any refunds within 30 days of the plan purchase date as long as no services have been performed. After 30 days, refund and cancellation policies are determined between dentist and patient. If an office decides to discontinue the use of Bento Dentist Portal, they will still have to honor the terms and any outstanding services that were purchased as a part of the in-office plan.

Dentists must maintain their own agreement with patients and provide refunds directly.

Bento requires that dentists maintain their own agreement for anything not covered by Bento’s policies and as required by state regulations. Dentists can find templates and additional resources in Bentopedia and through the ADA resource center.

All dentists must comply with their state regulations around Direct Primary Care Agreements. ADA offers a resource free to ADA members that provides a tracker on current state regulations regarding Direct Primary Care Agreements. ADA Members can access the most recent list of state legislation. (ADA member login required)

Yes! Plans renew annually. Patients will receive an email reminder from Bento 30 days prior to a patient’s renewal date enabling them to make necessary changes to their in-office plan.