# CARC 270 denial code on dental claims > What does denial code CARC 270 mean on a dental claim, and can it be appealed? URL: https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-denial-codes/carc-270 Last verified: 2026-08-30 Dentovio is an independent publisher — not a payer, the ADA, X12, CAQH CORE, or any government agency. Code meanings and remark-code meanings on this page are Dentovio's own wording, written from the official X12 Claim Adjustment Reason Code and Remittance Advice Remark Code lists and linked back to them; X12 holds the copyright in those lists and its descriptions are not reproduced here. CDT codes are referenced by number only; CDT is the American Dental Association's copyrighted code set and this page does not reproduce ADA descriptors. Appealability verdicts are Dentovio editorial classification, not a standard. Every fact traces to the code steward's registry, a federal rule or manual, a HIPAA operating rule, an association publication, or a named payer's own document — never to a billing blog. This page was drafted with AI assistance and verified against the primary sources linked here. It has not been reviewed by a credentialed dental billing specialist, attorney, or clinician. Educational billing reference only — not billing, legal, or clinical advice. Plan contracts control individual outcomes, and processing policies usually live in the payer's provider manual rather than in the signed agreement. ## Direct answer On a dental remittance, CARC 270 means: The medical plan has the claim, has no benefit for it, and is telling the practice to file the services with the patient's dental plan. X12 assigns it no group code, so the group code on the remittance is the payer's choice under its own contract and it, not the CARC, decides who is assigned the balance. No source read for this page pairs a specific remark code with it. Dentovio's appealability verdict — technical: fix and resubmit. Not a coverage decision to contest — a routing instruction. File with the dental plan, in dental format, inside its window. Registry entry: X12 Claim Adjustment Reason Code 270 — active, with no deactivation date. Read on the list published 2025-11-01. Group code: X12 places no group-code restriction on 270. A group code always travels with a CARC, and it — not the CARC — assigns financial responsibility, so read the one on your remittance rather than assuming. ## What it means in dental context The mirror image of 254, and the code an office meets when a medical cross-claim comes back. It completes the crossover picture: 254 sends you from dental to medical, 270 sends you from medical to dental, 290 means the dental plan already forwarded it, and 289 means neither side covers it. ## Appealability: Technical — fix and resubmit The appealability verdicts on these pages are Dentovio's editorial classification. No standards body or payer publishes an appealability taxonomy: X12 defines what a code means, not what to do about it. Each verdict is built from the code's own mechanics and the payer and federal documents cited on the page, and it is a starting point for triage rather than a prediction of any outcome. The route here is correcting the identified defect and resubmitting as a corrected claim, inside the timely-filing window, rather than arguing the decision. Not a coverage decision to contest — a routing instruction. File with the dental plan, in dental format, inside its window. ## What to do 1. File the services with the patient's dental plan in the dental claim format 2. Attach whatever the dental plan's policy requires for the procedure; medical documentation rarely matches it 3. Diary the dental plan's filing deadline separately from the medical one ## Remark codes No source read for this page pairs a remark code with CARC 270. X12 defines no CARC-to-RARC pairings at all: payer crosswalks are specific to that payer's own internal reason codes, and the CAQH CORE combination list binds only payers operating inside its business scenarios. Read the remark code on your own remittance. ## Read with this code - [CARC 254 — You file it with medical](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-denial-codes/carc-254/index.html.md) - [CARC 290 — Forwarded to medical](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-denial-codes/carc-290/index.html.md) - [CARC 289 — Neither plan covers it](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-denial-codes/carc-289/index.html.md) ## Sources - X12 Claim Adjustment Reason Codes (external code list 139) (list updated 2025-11-01): - X12 Remittance Advice Remark Codes (external code list 411) (list updated 2026-07-01): - 45 CFR 162.1602 — HIPAA adoption of the 835 remittance standard that carries these codes: ## Related - [Dental billing and claims hub](https://dentovio.com/dental-billing/index.html.md) - [All dental denial codes](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-denial-codes/index.html.md) - [Payer documentation requirements](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-documentation/index.html.md) - [Dental insurance prompt-pay laws by state](https://dentovio.com/dental-prompt-pay-laws/index.html.md) - [Dental claim appeal letters](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-appeal-letters/index.html.md)