Use this article when staff ask:
How do I read multiple service lines under one account?
Why was this combination of codes billed on the same visit?
Which claim examples should I use as training cases?
For training purposes, treat each account like a mini case study:
group all rows with the same Test case number,
read the code family,
look at NS (number of services),
decide whether the lines represent:
a routine single service,
a base service plus premium,
a base service plus add-on,
a multi-procedure trauma case,
or a prior-authorization-sensitive oral surgery case.
Lines billed from uploaded spreadsheet
T655A — NS 1
T814A — NS 1
What was billed
A virtual consultation plus the matching premium.
Why it was billed that way
This is a clean model case for a virtual dental consultation rendered during a premium time period. T655 is the virtual consultation code, and T814 is the premium for a consultation or visit between 5:00 p.m. and midnight, or on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday. Ontario also confirmed that T655, T656, T814, T815, and T816 are permanent virtual dental fee codes.
How NS helps
Because NS = 1 on both rows, this reads as:
one qualifying virtual consultation during that visit,
and one matching premium line attached to that same visit.
Training takeaway
Use this as your best “virtual consult + premium” example.
Lines billed from uploaded spreadsheet
T650A — NS 1
T811A — NS 1
What was billed
An in-hospital consultation plus an in-person premium.
Why it was billed that way
T650 is the hospital consultation code. T811 is the premium for a consultation or visit between 5:00 p.m. and midnight, or on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday. This makes the case the in-person equivalent of the virtual example above.
How NS helps
Both lines show NS = 1, so the claim is read as:
one consultation,
one premium tied to that same consultation encounter.
Training takeaway
Teach staff that T811 is not a second consultation. It is a premium line attached to a qualifying consultation/visit.
Lines billed from uploaded spreadsheet
T426A — NS 1
T431A — NS 1
T650A — NS 1
What was billed
A hospital consultation plus a fracture surgery case involving open reduction and rigid internal fixation add-on.
Why it was billed that way
T431 is open reduction, single. T426 is the add-on for rigid internal fixation per side. T650 indicates the consultation component. This is a strong fracture-management teaching case because it shows the difference between:
the consult,
the main operative service,
and the fixation add-on.
How NS helps
Every line has NS = 1, so nothing here is a repeated service count. It is a three-line same-visit case made of distinct service components.
Training takeaway
Use this case to teach clerks how to spot a main procedure + add-on pattern.
Lines billed from uploaded spreadsheet
T650A — NS 1
T395A — NS 1
What was billed
A hospital consultation plus intraoral incision and drainage of a major anatomical space.
Why it was billed that way
T395 is the intraoral incision-and-drainage code for major anatomical spaces other than vestibular or palatal space. Paired with T650, this looks like a hospital assessment followed by surgical drainage treatment.
How NS helps
Both rows are NS = 1, which means:
one consult,
one drainage procedure,
during that visit.
Training takeaway
This is a good “consult + therapeutic infection procedure” example.
Lines billed from uploaded spreadsheet
T650A — NS 1
T393A — NS 1
What was billed
A hospital consultation plus extraoral incision and drainage of a major anatomical space.
Why it was billed that way
T393 is the extraoral incision-and-drainage code for major anatomical spaces other than vestibular space. This makes it a good companion case to the T395 example above.
How NS helps
Again, NS = 1 on both rows, so this is one consult and one procedure in that encounter.
Training takeaway
Use Accounts 05220218 and 06164277 as a matched pair to teach:
T395 = intraoral drainage
T393 = extraoral drainage
Lines billed from uploaded spreadsheet
T272A — NS 1
T593A — NS 1
What was billed
A TMJ surgery case with a fat tissue harvest component.
Why it was billed that way
T593 is menisectomy. T272 is fat harvesting. Read together, this looks like a temporomandibular joint surgical case where fat harvest was billed as a separate service component.
How NS helps
Each line is NS = 1, so the claim represents one main surgical TMJ service and one supporting harvest service during the same visit.
Training takeaway
This is a good example of a claim where multiple lines are related parts of one operation, not unrelated services.
Lines billed from uploaded spreadsheet
T650A — NS 1
T430A — NS 1
T507A — NS 1
T410A — NS 1
T121A — NS 1
T901A — NS 1
T902A — NS 1
What was billed
A complex trauma/oral surgery case with:
hospital consultation,
closed reduction,
laceration repair,
fixation,
arch bar/splint/wiring add-on,
and erupted tooth removals.
Why it was billed that way
This is one of the best advanced training claims because it combines several code families:
T650 = consultation in hospital,
T430 = closed reduction,
T507 = repair of uncomplicated laceration, 2 cm to 5 cm,
T410 = maxillomandibular fixation,
T121 = application of arch bar and/or splint and/or wiring of dentures, one add-on,
T901/T902 = erupted tooth removal family.
How NS helps
Every line is NS = 1, so this is not a repeated-unit case. It is a multi-component trauma case where each billed line represents a distinct part of the same clinical encounter.
Training takeaway
Teach staff to read this claim in layers:
assessment,
reduction,
fixation,
soft-tissue repair,
dental extraction work.
Lines billed from uploaded spreadsheet
T901A — NS 4
T902A — NS 18
T936A — NS 4
What was billed
A large Part III oral surgery pattern that looks like a multi-quadrant clearance/extraction case with alveoloplasty.
Why it was billed that way
This is one of the most useful training cases because NS is doing real work here:
T901 = removal of single erupted tooth, per quadrant
T902 = removal of each additional erupted tooth in the same quadrant
T936 = alveoloplasty independent of tooth extraction, per quadrant.
Ontario’s technical specifications also list T901–T912 and T936 among service codes requiring specialized submissions with prior authorization.
How NS helps
This is the best case in your uploads for teaching NS:
T901A, NS 4 likely means the single-erupted-tooth-per-quadrant service was billed across 4 quadrants during that visit.
T902A, NS 18 likely means 18 additional erupted tooth services were billed during that same visit.
T936A, NS 4 likely means alveoloplasty was billed in 4 quadrants during that visit.
So here, NS is not “repeat visits.” It is the service count inside that one operative encounter.
Training takeaway
Use this as your main example for:
how to interpret NS when it is greater than 1, and
how per-quadrant / per-additional-tooth codes behave inside one visit.
Important caution
The spreadsheet strongly suggests a prior-authorization-sensitive Part III case, but the spreadsheet alone does not prove whether the prior approval record was attached or approved. That would need the chart or OHIP submission support record.
Lines billed from uploaded spreadsheet
T643A — NS 1
What was billed
A surgical-assistant claim.
Why it was billed that way
T643 is assisting at a major oral and maxillofacial surgical procedure. The schedule also warns that T643 is payable at zero when rendered with many listed dental procedures unless the surgeon’s letter supports independent consideration where needed.
How NS helps
NS = 1 means one assistant service was billed for that visit.
Training takeaway
This is a good simple assistant-claim example, but it is also a reminder:
do not add T643 automatically,
and do not assume assistant billing is always payable just because surgery occurred.
NS is the number of services rendered during that one visit.
NS = 1 means one service instance.
NS > 1 means multiple billable service instances in the same encounter, especially in per-quadrant, per-side, or per-additional-tooth code families.
Premium codes are not separate visits.
Add-on codes are not standalone procedures.
Some dental surgery families are prior-authorization-sensitive.
Ontario Schedule of Benefits – Dental Services under the Health Insurance Act.
Ontario technical specifications: Number of Services field and specialized-submission/prior-authorization rules.
Ontario virtual dental bulletins confirming T655/T656/T814/T815/T816 logic and permanence.