Key Take-Aways: Dental membership plans help patients commit to preventive care, while Cherry patient financing helps them afford recommended treatment beyond their membership benefits. Together, they remove two of the biggest financial barriers to case acceptance.
There's a moment every treatment coordinator knows.
The patient is sitting across from you. They've seen the treatment plan. They want the work done, you can tell. And then they look at the total, and something shifts. The energy changes. They get quiet, or they start minimizing ("maybe we can just do the filling for now"), or they say the thing you've heard a hundred times: "Let me think about it."
That moment is where production walks out the door.
Here's the thing: if your practice is running a membership plan, you've already done the hard part. You got the patient in the chair. They're uninsured or underinsured, they joined your membership plan, and they showed up. That is not a small thing. That patient chose your practice and made a financial commitment to their care.
The membership plan handled the first barrier—the one that keeps patients from coming in at all.
But there's a second barrier. And it shows up right there in that quiet moment when they see the treatment plan total.
What dental membership plans cover and where patient financing fits
A membership plan is one of the most powerful tools your practice has for building a loyal, returning patient base. It removes the insurance middleman, gives patients predictable costs for their care, and builds the kind of trust that keeps people coming back year after year.What it doesn't do is cover the cost of treatment beyond what's included in the plan.
That's not a flaw—it's simply how membership plans work.
A patient on your membership plan gets their exams, cleanings, and X-rays covered. But when they need a crown, an implant, a full-arch restoration, or clear aligners, that conversation is still coming. And for patients without insurance, that number can feel like a wall.
That's where Cherry comes in.
How Cherry Patient Financing helps patients accept treatment
Cherry is patient financing built directly into the Clerri Bridge. For your team, that means when a patient is sitting across from you and cost is the thing standing between them and treatment, you don't have to send them to a separate system, hand them a card to fill out, or ask them to apply somewhere else on their own time.
You pull up their treatment plan, and Cherry is already there.
Here's what that looks like in practice: before the patient even walks into the financial conversation, Cherry may have already pre-approved them for a financing range—visible right in their patient record in the Bridge. Your treatment coordinator walks into that conversation knowing the patient has between, say, $4,000 and $12,500 available through Cherry. That changes the entire energy of the conversation.
And when the patient sees the treatment plan total and goes quiet? You're ready.
Cherry gives patients a practical path to say yes to the treatment they already know they need.
How treatment coordinators can navigate cost conversations
The goal isn't to push financing on a patient. It's to remove the thing that's stopping them from getting care they've already told you they need.
Here's how the two solutions work together during a single appointment:
- Before they sit down
The patient is a member. They trust your practice. They've already made one financial decision in your favor by joining your membership plan. That relationship becomes the foundation for the next conversation.
- When cost comes up
Instead of letting the conversation stall, your treatment coordinator opens it.
"I know seeing the full cost at once can feel like a lot. How are you feeling about it?"
That one question changes everything. It gives the patient permission to be honest, and it gives your team an opening.
- When they're ready to hear options
"We have something built right into our system called Cherry. It's patient financing. It takes about 30 seconds, it doesn't affect your credit score, and we can see right now what you may qualify for."
Simple. No pressure. The patient applies on their own phone while sitting with you.
- When they're approved
You schedule treatment before they leave. That's the workflow.
Membership builds the relationship and supports preventive care. Cherry helps patients overcome the financial barrier to treatment at the exact moment they need it—in the room, with the patient, while they're still engaged.
Why Patient Financing improves dental case acceptance
Cherry approves approximately 90% of applicants, including patients with credit scores as low as 520 and, in some cases, patients with a bankruptcy on their record. For practices serving diverse patient populations, that approval rate can meaningfully improve treatment acceptance.
Because Cherry uses a soft credit pull throughout the application process—including when a patient formally accepts a loan—patients can explore financing without affecting their credit score. There's no downside to checking their options.
For your membership patients, that's especially meaningful.
These are patients who've already demonstrated they're invested in their care. They joined your plan. They showed up.
Cherry gives them a practical path to say yes to the treatment they already know they need.
Helping more patients say yes to treatment
If you're an office manager or treatment coordinator, you already know the financial conversation is part of the job. You can't avoid it. But you can change how it feels—for both your patients and your team.
- Membership handles the "I don't have insurance" conversation.
- Cherry handles the "I can't afford the treatment" conversation.
Together, they address the two moments where patients most often walk away from care. When both solutions are in place, your team isn't guessing what to say when cost comes up because they already have a clear path forward.
It's not a sales pitch.
It's about helping patients receive the care they've already decided they need. It's about removing unnecessary financial barriers, improving case acceptance, and bringing care closer.
Cherry is available to Clerri Pro customers through the Clerri Bridge.
✦ See Clerri + Cherry in action ✦
Join Clerri and Cherry for a 30-minute live webinar to learn how patient financing inside the Clerri Bridge helps practices overcome one of the biggest barriers to case acceptance. We'll walk through what happens when patients hesitate because of cost, what that hesitation is really costing your practice, and how giving patients a simple pay-over-time option can help turn recommended treatment into scheduled appointments.
In this webinar, you'll learn:
- How the Clerri + Cherry partnership works to create a seamless financial experience for both your team and your patients.
- The hidden cost of unscheduled treatment and why delayed care impacts more than production.
- Why patients decline treatment and how financing can remove one of the biggest barriers to moving forward.
- How Cherry inside the Clerri Bridge supports higher case acceptance by making financing available when patients need it most.
Live webinar details
- Date: Wednesday, July 29, 2026
- Time: 1:00 PM EDT
- Duration: Approximately 30 minutes
Can't join us live? Register anyway, and we'll send you the full recording so you can watch it whenever it's convenient.
