Dental Advertising: Everything you need to know

Advertising your dental services is an excellent way to get new patients in the door of your practice (or even retain your existing patients). So, what is dental marketing, and what do you need to know about it?

Dental marketing is any tool or strategy you use to promote your dental practice and services. There are plenty of ways to advertise your dental practice, including:

Local advertising placement such as on billboards, local publications, and even restaurant placemats
Sharing information about your practice on your social media account
Sending marketing materials by traditional mail and email
Paying for pay-per-click advertising through Google, Facebook/Meta, and other sites
Sponsoring local sports teams or community volunteer/fundraising opportunities

Why is dental advertising important?

Every dentist knows how important word-of-mouth recommendations from satisfied patients are to a thriving dental practice. But what about when your dental practice is brand new, or you move locations, or you’re experiencing a lull in business? Even when your practice is doing well, there’s always room for improvement when it comes to your patient base.

Dental advertising helps you advertise your services so you can bring more patients into your office and emphasize your unique skillset. And, yes, it really does work.

Dr. Eric Block, who runs a dental practice in Massachusetts and is a member of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, says that he gets 95% of new patients through digital marketing. These methods include paid ads through Google and social media as well as free methods like organic traffic earned through social media and using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) throughout his practice website and any online content he creates.

The same marketing tools that work for small businesses also work for dental practice—you just have to try different methods to discover what works best for your practice.

Whatever advertising method you decide to go with, our best advice is to keep it local. Your dental patients are almost always your community members, and the distance from their home or office to your dental practice matters a lot to them. The more convenient, the better.

Dental advertising guidelines

When trying out dental advertising methods, you need to be sure to always comply with the laws and regulations that apply to your business.

The ADA has a helpful step-by-step guide to dental advertising laws and regulations, as set by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) but here’s a breakdown of some of the most important things to know when it comes to legal standards and ethics. Please be sure to refer to the full guidelines before launching an advertising campaign.

Federal guidelines for dental advertising

Advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive
Advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims
Advertisements cannot be unfair

An ad is deceptive if it contains a statement or omits information that:

Is likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably under the circumstances
If information important to a consumer’s decision to buy or use the product (your treatments or practice) is obscured, withheld, or changed after the fact such as prices.

An ad or business practice is unfair if:

It causes or is likely to cause substantial consumer injury which a consumer could not reasonably avoid
It is not outweighed by the benefit to consumers, consider cosmetic dentistry for this one.

General state restrictions on dental advertising

According to the ADA, most states regulate advertising through unfair and deceptive acts and practices (UDAP) statutes. Unlawful advertising acts and practices under these statutes generally include the following:

Causing confusion or misunderstanding as to the source, sponsorship, approval, or certification of goods or services
Causing confusion or misunderstanding as to affiliation, connection, or association with, or certification by, another
Representing that goods or services have sponsorship, approval, characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits, or quantities which they do not have or that a person has a sponsorship, approval, status, affiliation, or connection which they do not
Representing that goods are original or new if they are deteriorated, reconditioned, reclaimed, used, or secondhand
Representing that goods or services are of a particular standard, quality, or grade, or that goods are of a particular style or model, if they are of another
Advertising goods or services with intent not to sell them as advertised
Advertising goods or services with intent not to supply a reasonable expectable public demand, unless the advertisements disclosed a limitation of quantity
Making false or misleading statements of fact concerning the reasons for, the existence of, or amount of price reductions
Knowingly making false or misleading statements of fact concerning the need for parts, replacement, or repair service²

How to advertise your dental practice

As the owner of your dental practice, you are best suited to know what your strengths are and what might most draw patients (and which kind of patients) to your office. Trust your instincts and see what you discover when trying out different advertising methods. But you should also always keep in mind what dental patients care about the most and try to cater to their wants and needs.

For the Dandy Dental Study: Patient Experience, we asked 600 patients what they’re looking for in a dentist. The top six factors that correlated with patient satisfaction included:

On-time appointments
Use of modern technology
- 1-in-4 look for modern dental technology in online reviews.
Sending follow-up instructions after you are home from a procedure
Dental practice location
- 76% of people look at online reviews seeking information on location and insurance.
Same or next-day appointments
Accepting your insurance plan

Through dental advertising, you can showcase what your dental practice has to offer in these areas. You could try methods like hyperlocal online advertising to people in a specific geographic range by creating ads that showcase:

Your practice’s newest, most impressive technology and services
A wide range of insurance accepted
Flexible appointment schedules
A high percentage of on-time appointments
Positive reviews from satisfied patients

Examples of effective dental advertisements

You’ll find out what kind of dental advertisements work best for your practice through trial and error over time. (Be sure to set measurable goals so you learn as you go and make the best return on your investment possible!)

Some dental advertising ideas and areas include:

Reach potential clients in your area on a social media platform they spend a lot of time on, such as Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook/Meta. Be mindful of the service you want to market to the audience of the social media platform. For instance, Facebook/Meta skews older than TikTok so ads for dentures will be more effective on Facebook/Meta and Clear Aligners should attract more new patients on TikTok.

Retargeting ads

Ads that resurface for people who previously visited your website but did not follow through with making an appointment. Ask your web developer for help here as the ROI (return on investment) will be high as these potential patients showed interest in your practice.

Click-to-call ads

Ads that put the customer directly through to your office with just one click. If you have a great front desk personality, this is an effective way to actively engage with a prospective patient as they can surface the information the patient is looking for (better than your website or social media).

Direct mail ads

Physical mail sent to potential clients in your area with key information about your practice, or a specific service you offer. Before and after pictures of real clients can be particularly useful with this type of ad.

Video ads

Show a full dental transformation from a real, satisfied patient in just a few seconds. Seeing is believing and you can use this proof of your treatment piece across all platforms—paid ads, social media, website, and depending on your locale, digital billboards.

Don’t be afraid to get creative. The ad space is crowded and anything that can make your ad stand out or be more memorable is a good thing. Take inspiration from these clever ads that prove impact and make smiles.