Because used amounts aren't a benefit. A benefit row describes the plan — "preventive is covered at 100%," "the annual maximum is $1,500." How much a patient has already burned through isn't part of the plan; it's part of that patient's year.
So writeback records it the way OpenDental expects: as an insurance adjustment on the patient, not as a row in the plan's benefits list.
Where to look for it
Open the patient's insurance in OpenDental. The insurance-used and deductible-met totals for the current benefit year will reflect what we verified with the payer. Behind those totals sits an insurance adjustment entry on the patient's account.
We don't type in the adjustment amount ourselves. We send OpenDental the correct totals — this much used, this much of the deductible met — and OpenDental works out the catch-up entry needed to land on those numbers. That means running writeback twice doesn't double anything up.
Both figures move together
Insurance used and deductible met are always written as a pair. If we only have one of them confidently, neither is written. That's deliberate: sending one on its own would tell OpenDental the other is zero and quietly wipe out a patient's real usage.
If the payer didn't report usage figures at all, this step is skipped and your existing totals stay exactly as they are.
Where the annual maximum itself goes
Don't confuse the two. The annual maximum amount — the plan's cap — is written as a benefit row on the plan, in the benefits list. Only the used and met figures are handled as an adjustment. The remaining balance isn't written anywhere as a number; OpenDental calculates it from the maximum minus the used amount.
All of this happens on full breakdowns only. A basic breakdown doesn't write used amounts.