--- title: "Dentrix Ascend Software Pricing, Alternatives & More 2026 | Capterra" description: "With the help of Capterra, learn about Dentrix Ascend Software - reviews, pricing plans, popular comparisons to other Dental products and more." source_url: "https://www.capterra.com/p/177828/Dentrix-Ascend/" page_type: "product" language: "en" publication_date: "2026-10-21" --- # Dentrix Ascend Software Review 2026: Features, Integrations, Pros & Cons Last updated on October 21, 2026 Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Description](#description)[Use cases](#use-cases)[Alternatives](#alternatives)[FAQs](#faqs)[Pros and Cons](#pros-cons)[Features](#features)[Pricing](#pricing)[Support](#support)[Reviews](#reviews) Dentrix Ascend ## What is Dentrix Ascend? Dentrix Ascend is a cloud-native dental practice management platform that helps practices improve clinical performance, streamline operations, and drive growth from a single connected system. Unlike disconnected point solutions, Ascend combines scheduling, charting, imaging, patient communications, revenue cycle management, analytics, and integrated AI tools in one platform accessible from anywhere. Practices can simplify everyday workflows with online scheduling, automated reminders, digital forms, eligibility verification, claims management, treatment planning, e-prescribing, and patient engagement capabilities that help keep schedules full and teams productive. Built-in AI solutions support earlier diagnosis, stronger patient communication, and more confident treatment conversations, helping practices improve case acceptance and deliver better patient experiences. For multi-provider and multi-location organizations, Ascend provides centralized visibility across locations. ## What is Dentrix Ascend used for? [Dental](https://www.capterra.com/dental-software/)[Dental Charting](https://www.capterra.com/dental-charting-software/)[Dental Imaging](https://www.capterra.com/dental-imaging-software/) Overall rating Based on 235 user reviews Reviews sentiment Positive 82% Neutral 10% Negative 8% Pros & cons Multi-location operational ease Remote access and flexibility Complex and unreliable reporting Starting price Free trial not available Capterra Shortlist charts the highest-rated and most popular products... Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings... Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings... ## Dentrix Ascend alternatives Highest Rated [4.6 (217)](https://www.capterra.com/p/180530/Power-Diary/reviews/) Starting price $19.00 Per User, Per Month Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 95% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [4.4 (285)](https://www.capterra.com/p/98688/Curve-Dental-Hero/reviews/) Starting price Contact vendor for pricing Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 87% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [4.5 (568)](https://www.capterra.com/p/124590/EMA/reviews/) Starting price Contact vendor for pricing Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 90% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [4.3 (514)](https://www.capterra.com/p/110018/rxnt/reviews/) Starting price $32.00 Per User, Per Month Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 86% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [View all alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/177828/Dentrix-Ascend/alternatives/) ## FAQs about Dentrix Ascend Overview ### What problems does Dentrix Ascend solve? Dentrix Ascend solves disconnected multi-location dental workflows by giving teams shared access to patient charts, schedules, payments, claims, images, and practice data from any internet-connected device. Practice managers, front-desk staff, clinicians, and remote employees benefit from easier cross-office coordination, faster staff training, configurable clinical templates, and dashboard visibility into daily work and outstanding claims. Answer based on 130 reviews Overview ### Which roles and teams benefit most from Dentrix Ascend? Dentrix Ascend is most used by dental office managers, dentists, hygienists, and front-desk teams managing appointments, patient records, clinical notes, and daily practice operations. Insurance coordinators handle claims and payment workflows, while practice owners, executives, and operations leaders monitor scheduling, financial activity, and performance across one or multiple locations. Answer based on 235 reviews Overview ### What company size and industries is Dentrix Ascend built for? Dentrix Ascend is designed for growing dental practices, multi-provider groups, and DSOs, with 94% of reviewers from small businesses. Its primary industries are Medical Practice (40%), Hospital & Health Care (27%), and Health, Wellness and Fitness (25%), while midsize and enterprise organizations account for 4% and 1% of reviewers. Answer based on 235 reviews Features and Usability ### What are the key features of Dentrix Ascend? Dentrix Ascend includes core dental practice management features such as patient management, appointment scheduling, clinical charting, and insurance claims management. Its differentiators include cloud-based multi-location access, customizable reports and dashboards, digital imaging, and patient communications through text and email reminders. Reviewers also frequently discuss its Routing Panel for tracking patient flow and checkout tasks. Answer based on 66 reviews Getting Started and Support ### How easy is it to onboard and train a team on Dentrix Ascend? Dentrix Ascend offers in-person training, live online sessions, webinars, documentation, and videos. Reviewers generally find front-office staff and users with dental software experience learn daily tasks quickly, including nontechnical users. Teams switching systems, along with users handling reporting, insurance setup, or advanced workflows, may need more time and follow-up training. Answer based on 51 reviews Getting Started and Support ### What customer support options does Dentrix Ascend offer, and how do users rate the experience? Dentrix Ascend offers email/help desk, FAQ/forum, knowledge base, phone support, and chat. Users often describe support as fast, friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful with troubleshooting and onboarding. However, some report long waits, inconsistent answers, limited availability, and difficulty resolving training, billing, or technical issues. Answer based on 38 reviews Features and Usability ### Is Dentrix Ascend easy to use for dental practices? Dentrix Ascend offers a modern interface that many dental teams learn quickly after initial training. Its dashboards, routing panel, customizable templates, and video tutorials support daily workflows, especially across locations. However, staff often find Power Reporting, certain clinical-note views, printing steps, and less-visible settings harder to master. Answer based on 66 reviews Features and Usability ### How well does Dentrix Ascend manage patient information? Dentrix Ascend centralizes patient charts, scheduling, communications, and records for practices that need browser-based access. Dental teams value accessible information, dashboards, integrated forms, and text or email tools. However, offices seeking deeper referral tracking, customizable forms and messaging, family-account updates, insurance workflows, or flexible recall scheduling may encounter gaps and workarounds. Answer based on 45 reviews Updates and improvements ### Does Dentrix Ascend receive regular updates and improvements? Dentrix Ascend delivers ongoing cloud updates without manual downloads, helping practices access new features and fixes. Multi-location and small-office teams appreciate that the software evolves without major upgrade projects. However, some updates arrive with errors, incomplete functionality, or temporary slowdowns, and teams want clearer testing and faster delivery of requested features. Answer based on 43 reviews ## Pros and Cons Multi-location operational ease 92% positive reviews out of 26 Most reviewers find access and location features simplify managing multiple sites and remote work for staff. Complex and unreliable reporting 77% negative reviews out of 31 Most reviewers indicate reports are confusing, time-consuming to build, lack accuracy, and offer inconsistent data. Remote access and flexibility 100% positive reviews out of 23 Most reviewers describe cloud access as enabling work from any location, eliminating server maintenance concerns. Convenience of cloud platform 95% positive reviews out of 22 Most users comment that cloud-based software allows easy login anywhere and removes server management burdens. ## Features AI summary Based on 1,648 Dental reviews Capterra data shows that buyers of dental software rank the following features as their top priorities: - **Patient Records Management** (**55%** of reviewers rated this feature as critical) - **Treatment Planning** (**53%**) - **Appointment Management** (**58%**) Dentrix Ascend supports all three features that reviewers identify as most important: **Patient Records Management**, **Treatment Planning**, and **Appointment Management**. Combined, these capabilities give dental practices a clear view of patient history, make it easier to map out care plans, and keep scheduling organized, helping businesses improve daily operations and deliver more consistent patient care. Patient Records Management 3.7 (10) 50.00% of 10 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Managing different types of patient records, including paper documents, digital files, billing information, and scheduling details Treatment Planning 3.4 (9) 55.56% of 9 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Create treatment plans that document interventions and outcomes to track patient progress Appointment Management 3.9 (11) 45.45% of 11 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Manage various aspects of appointments including booking, rescheduling, canceling Confirmations/Reminders 3.8 (6) 83.33% of 6 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Automated reminders and confirmations for booked appointments and events via text or email Claims Management 3.4 (11) 63.64% of 11 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Process of submitting and following up on claims with insurance companies Charting 4.3 (11) 81.82% of 11 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Manage patient documentation describing all clinical interactions, diagnoses, procedures, medications, etc. Dentrix Ascend 74 features Drawing and modeling designs within 2D flat dimensions Representation of any object in 3D Built-in accounting to manage ledger, accounts payable/receivable, financial reports, etc. Dashboard to view the status of ongoing processes, identify current incidents and track past activities Software program that continuously adjusts its behavior based on observed data Manage various aspects of appointments including booking, rescheduling, canceling Schedule appointments via a calendar Automatically create schedules based on business needs or employee availability and qualifications Create, manage, and send invoices or bills to customers Notify large groups of people simultaneously about important updates. Synchronize with other calendars to view mutual availability and schedules Schedule the calibration of instrumentation and maintenance requirements Create a collection of marketing actions to complete specific goals and plan and analyze campaign results Work on a set of tasks related to a particular charge, patient, legal issue or any other complex entity or process Manage patient documentation describing all clinical interactions, diagnoses, procedures, medications, etc. Process of submitting and following up on claims with insurance companies Clean up of claims prior to their submission and validating to determine claims are appropriate and accurate Manage contact details and communication with clients Record and organize clinical notes and progress notes for each patient after interaction with a physician Manage and track all internal and external communication conducted via calls, email, text, or chat Automated reminders and confirmations for booked appointments and events via text or email Alter the layout and content of reports Pre-designed layouts that can be customized to match preferences and requirements Discover and connect variety of data sources to the application for analysis Import and export data to and from software applications Graphical representation of data Managing day-to-day operations of dental practices such as scheduling appointments, generating reports, and more. Provides digitized intake forms both for patient and physician use Convert paper files into digital images Store, manage, and track all electronic documents in a centralized location Assemble applications and processes by dragging over and arranging pre-built components Transmit prescriptions to pharmacies electronically Transfer of data from one computer system to another Intended for medical use such as diagnosis, treatment, and consultation Evaluating and identifying the fundamental components in an image for extracting medical information. Visual representations or pictures of objects, structures, or internal body parts, often for diagnostic or analytical purposes Checking eligibility of patients for different insurance claims Ability to chat online in real time Enable businesses to implement machine learning algorithms on business data such as sales and revenue Manage billing and payments for a healthcare provider Communicate using messages within the system Observe and track the demand, usage, progress or quality of a system, product, or user Manage and support multiple locations The ability to choose between different appointments in a selection. Process and analyze human language in text or audio form Track and organize online shifts Electronic orthodontic records of patients created and stored digitally Allow communication between the company and patients via messages, SMS, emails, phone, and more Allows medical providers to engage patients in a variety of ways to ensure their health. Patients can register for appointments in advance online Managing and tracking patient health, progress, communication, and treatment plans Online portal where patients can access information such as health records, treatment plants, etc. Managing different types of patient records, including paper documents, digital files, billing information, and scheduling details Book and manage patient appointments and follow-ups A chart utilized by dental care professional to write and record oral and periodontal health or disease Track and organize physician schedules and pertinent information Managing day-to-day operations of a medical practice such as scheduling appointments, generating reports and more Customizable notes that help healthcare professionals document and track patient progress Reporting on how each user, task or process has advanced since its initiation Ability to record, store, update, and retrieve information Log and store the source of contacts/leads Timed notification for any upcoming task, deadline, appointment, or activity Collection, analysis, and representation of numerical data and generation of reports to understand various patterns Monitor sales and make necessary adjustment in order to increase demand and revenue Set & manage permission levels based on user roles and restrict access to only authorized individuals Set a time to generate routine reports automatically Plan availability and assign specific time slots for tasks and resources Exchange messages in a secure and encrypted manner Online portal through which end users can access the system, manage tasks, or obtain information Create, manage and track all task activities and progression Provide integration with third-party telehealth applications Create treatment plans that document interventions and outcomes to track patient progress Manage user accounts, profiles, roles, permissions, and other details across applications, devices or networks Record, update and manage waiting lists Get Advice We can help you find the software with the features you need. Features 3.9 (235) 3.9 Based on 235 reviews ## Pricing Value for money 4.0 (201) Ascend Essentials Based on product package It includes: - Power Reporting - Voice Notes - Imaging with Image Verify - ERA auto posting - Unlimited text and email - Centralized patient records - Optimized charting - Unlimited Eligibility Essentials - Forms and Reminders Ascend Pro Based on product package It includes: - Scheduling Analytics - Centralized scheduling - Reserve with Google - Centralized patient records - Optimized charting - Unlimited text and email - Forms and Reminders - Unlimited Eligibility Essentials - ERA auto posting - Imaging with Image Verify - Voice Notes - Power Reporting - Campaigns - Eligibility Pro - Unlimited eClaims - Lower payment processing rates Ascend Accelerate Based on product package It includes: - AI diagnostics - Magnify - Voice Notes Ambient - Voice Perio Charting - Enterprise Reporting - The lowest payment processing rates - Practice consulting sessions - Scheduling Analytics - Lower payment processing rates - Unlimited eClaims - Eligibility Pro - Campaigns - Reserve with Google - Centralized scheduling - Power Reporting - Imaging with Image Verify - ERA auto posting - Unlimited Eligibility Essentials - Forms and Reminders - Unlimited text and email - Optimized charting - Centralized patient records Value for money 4.0 (201) 4.0 Based on 201 reviews Connect with a Capterra advisor for a free 15-minute consultation Get a personalized software list aligned to your business needs with guidance from our expert advisors. Our team has helped 1 million+ businesses like yours find options that fit their needs. ## Support, customer service and training options Customer Service 4.3 (211) Support - Email/Help Desk - FAQs/Forum - Knowledge Base - Phone Support - 24/7 (Live rep) - Chat Training - In Person - Live Online - Webinars - Documentation - Videos Deployment - Web - Android - iPhone/iPad Typical users - Freelancers - Small businesses - Mid size businesses - Enterprises Customer Service 4.3 (211) 4.3 Based on 211 reviews ## User reviews Overall rating 4.1 Based on 235 reviews Filter by rating Counts reflect reviews available in this feed. 5(107) 4(85) 3(24) 2(7) 1(12) Mentioned topic Recent reviews first, then most helpful RE Reviewer Dentist Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "Comprehensive Dental software" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 June 18, 2026 Very good - I appreciate all the components of this software including note templates which can be customized. This software has everything my practice needs - it's the only thing we use, and it incorporates digital radiographs as well. I have also had great tech support from the company. Pros I really like the visual format of Dentrix Ascend. It's a great tool for patient education as well as charting, scheduling and billing. Cons As with any new software, this did take me some time to get used to but I have been using this software for several years now and I can't imagine going back to paper charts! Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. RE Reviewer CEO Used the software for: 3-5 years ### " IPE Mgt CEO" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 7/10 February 26, 2026 Dentrix Ascend has been a great addition to our practice, offering a modern, user-friendly platform with strong potential for continued improvement. What truly stands out is their pleasant and responsive support team. Whenever we have questions or run into challenges, they provide clear solutions in a timely manner, making it easy to keep our workflow moving without unnecessary delays. Their professionalism and positive attitude make every interaction smooth and reassuring. Ascend’s platform is already a solid foundation, and we’re excited to see it continue to grow and evolve alongside our organization’s needs. We highly recommend Dentrix Ascend to practices seeking dependable support. Pros Dentrix Ascend’s support team has been absolutely outstanding, consistently providing fast, knowledgeable, and friendly assistance whenever we need help. Their dedication to resolving issues quickly and thoroughly makes a huge difference in keeping our office running smoothly. A special thank you to \[sensitive content hidden\], who truly goes above and beyond. She is patient, professional, and incredibly clear when explaining solutions, making even complex problems feel manageable. \[sensitive content hidden\]’s positive attitude and commitment to customer success reflect the very best of Dentrix Ascend support. We genuinely appreciate the excellent service and highly recommend their team to any practice. Cons Power Reporting in Dentrix Ascend feels unnecessarily clumsy and frustrating to use. The layout isn’t intuitive, and getting meaningful, relevant data often feels like a complex puzzle—honestly, you’d need a PhD in Power Reporting just to make it useful. Even once you understand the process, the system is much too slow, with reports taking longer than they should to generate and refine. It makes simple analysis feel like a time-consuming project instead of a quick workflow step. Unfortunately, the best solution seems to be Jarvis, which is far more efficient—but it comes with an additional cost. That extra price adds insult to injury. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. RE Reviewer OWNER Used the software for: Less than 1 year ### "Being F ed over by \[sensitive content hidden\] Dentrix ONE" 1.0 Overall Rating 1.0 1.0 Ease of Use 1.0 1.0 Features 3.0 3.0 Customer Service 1.0 1.0 Likelihood to Recommend 1/10 February 24, 2026 Awful Would not admit any issues and would not refund my money The system did not work for more than 2 days before glitches came up we spent hours on phone with their IT people I hired outside people to come in Paid them said not your hardware its the software Pros nothing THe scheduling was difficult. We would all meet at 7am only to be told they were not reADY AND CONVERSION HAD NOT BEEN COMPLETED Cons We could not get all the info to convert into ONE. The xrays features did not work alot of the time.....variable and we could not get the intraoral camera to ever work or open I asked for my money back and ONE would not do it . They just waived th eearly termination fee of $5000 I am out $2999 Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. RE Reviewer Dental office manager Used the software for: 1-3 years ### "Fairbanks Dental Center Ascend review" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 9/10 January 11, 2026 Overall, it is simple to use after some training. I don't ever want to switch practices software again. Pros The Customer support is excellent. When we first signed on with ascend and transitioned from "old dentrix" it was a daunting scary process no one wanted to do. Customer support made it easy and helped us through the challenges with ease. Cons I wish insurance verification was easier. I also wish there were quicker print options. seems insignificant, but sometimes it's 3-5 clicks just to print. Power reporting is confusing, the filters and options needed to get the right report data is overwhelming, I wish it could be simplified, and put into a tab or quick link to my favorite reports that saved my settings for each report I want to print. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. RE Reviewer Regional Manager - CEO Used the software for: 1-3 years ### "A is for Ascend! " 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 8/10 January 9, 2026 Overall our experience has been wonderful from the dedicated conversion team to help with imaging and forms. The integrated forms that put health alerts into your patient history are phenomenal. The insurance eligibility has saved our practice the money of two full time team members (appx 75k a year). Pros Customer support is quick and easy. Scheduling for mutli-locations is seamless. The insurance verification colors are helpful at a glance to know who needs attention. Cons Unable to re-assign a payment type without deleting payment slows down our team a great deal. Could use some feature improvements with that and we need a deceased patient status. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. RE Reviewer Business Manager Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "Dentrix Ascend Is The Future" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 4.0 4.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 January 9, 2026 I have found Dentrix Ascend to be a great teacher. What I mean by that is that instead of trying to make Ascend do things the way I was used to, I let it teach me new, better, and more productive ways to do things. It revolutionized our office flow and has saved us so much time and hassle. I really tried to learn all of the things Ascend can do and I was amazed at what I could customize so many things. A little effort from me to set up clinical note templates, multi codes, attaching our preferred codes to the ICD-10 codes used in Quick Exam, etc. meant that our processes were fast and easy from that point on. I love Dentrix Ascend and I love that it is constantly updating and bringing on new features, teaching me to do things more efficiently. It will never be an outdated software. Pros Dentrix Ascend has a modern interface that is easy to use. I was drawn to it because it has charts and hyperlinks on the landing page. I didn't have to try and guess what a symbol was and where it would take me if I clicked on it. The graphs are easy to understand. Then I saw the Routing Panel. The Routing Panel is one of Ascend's best features. It allows us to be completely paperless, track where a patient is, post procedures, and won't let us check a patient out if we have forgotten something like collecting payment or scheduling recare. Cons Any time you change to a new software there is a learning curve. We switched to Dentrix Ascend in 2018 and the process of inputting patient insurance was a much bigger task than we realized. Our trainer tried to tell us, but we did not pay attention so the first month was a very busy month as we scrambled to input insurance. Now Ascend auto imports insurance tables so new users don't have to go through what we did. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. Krista I. C. Dental Hygienist Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "Good software" 5.0 April 8, 2020 Good to fair. I use it at offices when I temp Pros I first was introduced to dentrix in dental hygiene school. At the time, It was the only dental software I knew of and felt as though it was pretty easy to use. In hygiene school, you do not use the software to its' best ability because we are limited to what we do w the dental charting, etc. I have used dentrix often during temping and do find it a little confusing, but I seem to manage pretty well with help from staff. Cons I am not a big fan of dentrix, I think it can be confusing and non-user friendly at times. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. RE Reviewer Director of Business Administration Used the software for: 1-3 years ### "Five Stars for Ascend!" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 May 27, 2021 Better communication among staff and between the office and patients over all our office has become much more efficient! Pros How easy the software is to learn and use. Our staff was very concerned about the transition because we had been using the other software for years and they still had so many problems using it. Ascend is user friendly it’s as easy to use as an app on your phone. I asked the team what they like most and these where their answers: 2 way texting, electronic sending for insurance, reliability, ability to access anywhere, time clock (new), how fast it runs compared to our old system and the amazing reports you can run (daily huddle) Cons In the perio charting it would be awesome if there was a way that implants are marked so both charts don't have to be open at the same time. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. RE Reviewer Insurance Specialist Used the software for: Less than 1 year ### "Gutless" 2.0 May 3, 2017 Our office made the switch from Viive, which itself was a very frustrating piece of software as it would constantly drop connection to the server even after several "fixes" and technical support sessions with both Mac and Viive. I was excited for Dentrix Ascend, being a long-time Dentrix veteran, knowing the power of the Dentrix applications. However, in my experience with Dentrix Ascend so far, it is clear that Ascend is a gutless wonder, especially compared with how powerful Dentrix Proper is (and even Eaglesoft, for that matter!), and as such, is has been an utter disappointment. Full disclosure: I handle the front office/insurance/accounting end of things, so I cannot speak to the clinical end of things. My review is solely of the front office and accounting end of things. Keep in mind it may be delightful for the clinician. I am pleased with the fact that we no longer have to deal with constant server connection fails, so that is nice. But still not enough to make up for Ascend's other shortcomings. My first gripe is that once an insurance carrier is established, you cannot edit the payor ID. And once groups are established under a carrier, you cannot move the groups. This means, if a carrier is set up incorrectly (say, with payor ID 06126 that directs the clearing house to print and mail all claim) with several groups, you have to manually recreate the carrier and each group underneath, which is a cumbersome and time-consuming process. Secondly, with the procedure codes, many of them default to "mouth" for treatment area, even for common codes that virtually every insurance company requires more specific information. If the procedure code is used a single time, you lose the ability to edit even the treatment area. This was a big problem for us, as treatment plans converted over with several codes that are uneditable because they are "in use." We have had to create several "alias" codes, which the clinical side now has to remember to choose. Third, Viive allowed for payment tables under each group (similar to Dentrix Proper and Eaglesoft and several other software options), that would allow any exceptions in payment to be logged for future prediction. This is not the case in Ascend. This was an important Viive feature for us because we participate with an insurance company who calculates payment based on two fee schedules: maximum allowable per provider contract and maximum allowable according to policy contract. With Ascend, you are at the mercy of coverage percentages and cannot account for the two separate yet inseparable fee schedule. I got excited when I saw the "copay" field in the coverage table and spent a large amount of time updating this field for each group, only to find out from technical support that this is not a covered feature. So, ultimately we have had to develop external tools to help us predict patient responsibility. Dentrix Ascend has completely failed us in this area. Finally, we have hit a roadblock with NEA attachments. We are having to continue using Viive because of the inability of ledgers to be transferred over to Ascend (ledgers include open claims). To make a long story short, because we are maintaining a subscription to NEA through Viive in order to be able to keep sending attachments for unresolved claims, we are unable to send attachments through Ascend. Our only options are 1) to terminate our NEA subscription under Viive and print and mail all claims requiring attachments, 2) to manually move treatment over to Ascend and resume claim troubleshooting under Ascend, or 3) print and mail all claims from Ascend requiring attachments. We are probably going to go with option (1), but really, any option is a huge inconvenience. Bottom line, as the numbers and insurance person, I would never recommend this software in its current state. I am a huge Eaglesoft critic, but I would wholeheartedly recommend even that software over Dentrix Ascend. Ascend, you have a long way to go before you will get my vouch. Pros Access from anywhere, line-item accounting, some user-defined reports, everything is backed up in the cloud. There is potential. Cons Just about everything else: confusing ledger, user-unfriendly insurance setup, inability to edit procedure codes, inability to override insurance payments at a group level and on a procedure code level, NEA attachment failures. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. RE Reviewer Practice Owning Dentist Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "Satisfied from the start" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 August 8, 2019 We have always been happy with Dentrix Ascend. Our IT needs and budget are a fraction of what they otherwise would be. We can always access and stay up to date with no additional cost or waste of time. Ascend continues to get better and better. Pros Intuitive. It has eliminated wasted time and money on training. Cons While being next generation technology and cloud based it has been very slow to publish APIs and become operable with so many other businesses that can enhance dental practice management. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. [View all Reviews](https://www.capterra.com/p/177828/Dentrix-Ascend/reviews/) ## Top-rated software of 2026 ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox. 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