Dental Marketing: How to Attract More New Patients

A practice wins new patients in three moments: when someone searches, when they compare, and when they call. Your plan has to show up, look credible and make that call easy. The core pieces match my local marketing playbook, with extra rules on ethics and privacy.

Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence, and that you cannot pay for a better local ranking. Dental SEO builds relevance with pages that match what people search, and prominence with reviews and local links. Expect it to take months. The fundamentals are the same as in my guide to local SEO.

1. 1Build a page for each service you want more of: implants, clear aligners, crowns, veneers, emergency visits, children's dentistry and cleanings.
2. 2Title each page with the service and city, for example “Dental Implants in Plano, TX | Oak Ridge Family Dental” (a made up name).
3. 3Answer real patient questions on each page: what happens at the first visit, which sedation options you offer, and how insurance and financing apply.
4. 4Add an emergency dentist page with your same day policy and after hours instructions.
5. 5Give each office its own location page with a map, hours and the team who works there.

Google's guidelines treat a dentist as an individual practitioner: a public facing professional, typically with their own customer base. How you set up profiles depends on how many dentists see patients at each office. For more on Maps, read how to rank on Google Maps.

• Solo dentist under a practice brand: Google says to share one profile named “[brand/company]: [practitioner name],” for example “Oak Ridge Family Dental: Dr. Maya Patel” (made up).
• Several dentists at one office: the practice gets its own profile, and each public facing dentist may have a profile showing only their name.
• No profiles for support staff, and no extra profiles for each specialty.
• Keep the name clean. Words like “Best Dentist Plano” do not belong in the name, and Google says extra words could lead to suspension.
• Add your booking link and keep holiday and Saturday hours accurate.

Above the fold, a new visitor should see a New Patients button, click to call, the insurance plans you accept, your hours including any evenings or Saturdays, and how to reach you in an emergency. Wondering about budget? Here is what a professional website costs.

• Insurance page listing the plans you are in network with, the date it was last updated, and a note to call and confirm coverage.
• New patient special with every term spelled out: what it includes, who qualifies, whether it applies with insurance and when it ends. The ADA Code lists leaving out a fact needed to keep a statement from misleading as an example of false or misleading advertising.
• Meet the team with real photos, degrees and memberships. The ADA Code says unearned, honorary or nonhealth degrees belong in scientific papers and curriculum vitae, not ads.
• Smile gallery with a written patient authorization on file for every photo.
• Online booking and intake forms that work on a phone.

This is general information, not legal advice, so check with your state dental board and your own compliance adviser. HHS says the HIPAA Privacy Rule requires an authorization for uses or disclosures of protected health information for all marketing communications, except face to face communications and promotional gifts of nominal value.

Review replies are where many practices slip. HHS settled with New Vision Dental in California for $23,000 in 2022 over disclosures of patient information in its responses to online reviews. A cautious reply thanks the reviewer and invites them to call the office, without confirming they were ever a patient.

The ADA Code also says ads must not create unjustified expectations about results, only dentists announcing a recognized specialty should use “specialist in,” and anyone endorsing a product or service must disclose paid partnerships with vendors.

New patient calls tend to arrive at the worst times: the morning huddle, lunch, or while the front desk is checking someone out.

1. 1Check your phone reports each week to see how many calls rang out or went to voicemail.
2. 2Set up a backup for busy times, either a second team member or an answering service.
3. 3Use missed call text back from a registered number with STOP opt out wording.
4. 4Ask about insurance and the reason for the visit early, then offer the first available time.
5. 5Send reminders only to patients who agreed to receive texts, and send promotions only with express written consent.
6. 6After the visit, ask every patient for an honest review with nothing offered in return. Here is how to get more Google reviews.