How to get more dental patients

1. Get the Google Business Profile right

Most new patients pick a dentist from the map results before they ever see a website. Your Google Business Profile decides whether you're in that short list, and most dental profiles I look at are only half done.

• Category: "Dentist" is usually right for a general practice. Add accurate secondary categories such as "Cosmetic dentist", "Emergency dental service" or "Dental implants provider" only if you really offer them.
• Services: list every treatment you want more of, not just "general dentistry".
• Hours: include the Friday half-day, early mornings and holiday closures. Wrong hours quietly send patients to the practice down the street.
• Photos: the building from the street, the front desk, the team and treatment rooms. Real photos, updated a few times a year.
• Booking link and phone: both should go straight to the place a new patient can actually book.

2. Say which insurance you take

"Does this dentist take my insurance?" is one of the first questions a new patient asks, and plenty of them search for it directly. Yet many practice websites never say. Put a clear list of the plans you're in network with on its own page, link to it from the homepage, and say how you handle out-of-network patients.

If you're fee-for-service, say that plainly too, and explain any in-house membership plan for patients without insurance. Patients would rather know up front than call and be disappointed.

3. Give your best treatments their own pages

Patients rarely search for "dentist" alone. They search for the problem or the treatment: "dental implants", "Invisalign", "same-day crown", "sedation dentist", "teeth whitening". A single services page with a sentence about each won't rank for any of them.

Pick the treatments that matter most to the practice and give each its own page that explains, in plain language, who it's for, what the visit is like, how long it takes, rough cost or financing, and why patients choose you for it. Mention the town and nearby neighborhoods you serve. For implant-heavy practices, see dental implant marketing.

4. Be findable for emergencies

"Emergency dentist near me" and "tooth pain dentist open today" are searches made by people who will book today. Many of them become long-term patients if the visit goes well.

If you see emergencies, say so: an emergency page with how to reach you, same-day availability and what to do after hours, plus the matching category on your Google profile. If you don't, that's fine, but don't let your profile suggest you do.

5. Answer the cost question

Almost every new patient wonders what it will cost before they call. You don't have to publish a fee schedule, but ranges for common treatments, what a new-patient visit includes, and the financing you accept all build trust. The practice that answers the question gets the call; the one that doesn't gets skipped.

6. Ask every happy patient for a review

Reviews help you rank in the map results and help patients choose you once they see you. What counts most is having recent ones. A practice with a few new reviews every month usually beats one with a big pile from three years ago.

Keep it simple: the front desk asks at checkout, then a text goes out with a direct link to your Google review page. Reply to every review, and never mention treatment details in a reply. Don't offer anything in exchange for a review; it breaks Google's rules. For more, see building a steady review habit.

7. Clean up your listings

Your practice appears on Yelp, Healthgrades, Zocdoc, insurance directories, Apple Maps, Bing and many more. When they show an old phone number, a former dentist's name or the wrong hours, patients get confused and search engines trust you less. Claim the main ones, fix them, and keep one master copy of your name, address, phone, hours and website to copy from.

8. Make it easy to book

A lot of new patients look for a dentist in the evening, when the office is closed. If the only option is "call during business hours", some of them won't. Online booking, or at least a short appointment request form that someone answers first thing in the morning, catches those patients. On a phone, the call button and booking link should be visible without scrolling.

9. Answer the phone (and call back)

This one isn't about marketing, but it's often where the most new patients are lost. A missed call from a new patient usually means they try the next practice on the list. Check how many calls go unanswered at lunch and in the first hour of the day, make sure voicemail promises a same-day callback, and then actually call back.

10. Bring back overdue patients

Patients who are overdue for a cleaning are often the easiest "new" visits you'll get. Most practice management systems can list everyone overdue by six months or more. A friendly text or call reminding them they're due, with an easy way to book, fills hygiene time without spending anything on ads.

11. Show up in AI answers

More people now ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI answers for a dentist recommendation, often with details like "takes Delta Dental" or "good with nervous patients". These tools piece together what they can read about you. Make sure your site says plainly what you treat, who you're a good fit for, which insurance you take and where you are, that your directories agree, and that your site doesn't block AI crawlers.

12. Ask how every new patient found you

Add "How did you hear about us?" to the new-patient form and have the front desk ask on the first call. After a few months you'll know whether patients come from Google, referrals, insurance directories or something else, and you can stop paying for what doesn't work.

What you can safely skip

• Posting on social media every day in the hope it brings new patients. It can help existing patients feel connected, but it rarely drives new ones on its own.
• Buying links or "SEO packages" with monthly reports that don't change anything on your site or profile.
• A full website redesign when the real problem is thin content and a hidden phone number.

Common questions