Alliance Data Systems, a provider of loyalty and credit card services, has signed a multiyear agreement with Pacific Dental Services (PDS). As part of the deal, Alliance will supply PDS with patient financing and marketing services through a private-label credit card program for dental procedures.

Alliance will handle receivables funding, credit authorization, statement generation, remittance processing, customer service functionality and marketing services to PDS to support the credit card program. Alliance will also integrate account acquisition, authorization and settlement services into PDS' practice management system.

Based in Irvine, CA, PDS works with 195 affiliated dental practices in California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and Texas.

Shelley Whiddon, director of external communications at Alliance, said the technology could be used if a dentist determined that a patient needs braces, a root canal or an elective procedure like teeth whitening and he or she is not insured, among other examples.

"If the patient has no insurance or if it's not paying at the level they wish it would, they may need credit," she said. "We're providing PDS a program for financing those dental services."

Whiddon explained that patients in that case generally have to go through an office manager to apply for credit, then wait for approval.

"By integrating the Alliance Data services into PDS' practice management system, there's an interface where that application and approval process can happen very quickly," she said.

Whiddon did not disclose the deal's financial terms. Calls to PDS were not returned.