Dental advertising is unusual in two ways. The demand is a mixture of routine care people put off and elective treatment they research for months, so a single campaign has to serve two very different buyers. And what you may say is constrained by your state dental board on top of ordinary advertising law, which catches out agencies who have only worked with unregulated businesses. This page covers which channels actually produce patients for a practice, what moves the cost, and the specific questions that reveal whether an agency has run dental accounts before or is about to learn on yours.
Where new patients actually come from
For routine and emergency care, the map result is the practice. Somebody with a broken tooth or a new address searches for a dentist near them and calls one of the first names they see, which makes a complete, verified business profile, a genuine review flow and a site that loads fast on a phone the highest return work available to most practices. Paid search sits alongside it for the terms you do not yet rank for, and it is expensive because implant, orthodontic and cosmetic keywords attract corporate groups with large budgets. Elective treatment behaves differently: implants, aligners and cosmetic work involve weeks of research, several enquiries and a consultation, so the content that wins is honest explanation of what the treatment involves, what it costs and what recovery looks like. Social and video support that consideration phase rather than replacing search. Most practices buy this as a package from a single advertising supplier, which is reasonable as long as the local search fundamentals are genuinely covered rather than assumed.
What you may claim, and who decides
Two layers apply. Federal advertising law requires that claims be truthful and substantiated, and the Federal Trade Commission's health products compliance guidance sets out that objective health claims need competent and reliable scientific evidence at the time they are made, with qualifying information presented clearly rather than in small print. On top of that sits your state dental board, whose advertising rules commonly restrict how specialties are described, how credentials may be stated, what may be said about pain or results, and how discounted or free offers must be qualified. The American Dental Association maintains resources on the legal and regulatory issues affecting practices, and your state board publishes the actual rules. The practical arrangement is simple: no advertising copy publishes without a named dentist in the practice approving the claims, and the agency is told the board's constraints in writing at the start rather than discovering them in a complaint. Ask any candidate which state boards they have worked under and what they had to change because of it.
Reviews and patient stories, handled properly
Reviews drive local choice in dentistry more than in almost any other service, and they are also where practices get into trouble. The rules are consistent and worth stating plainly: do not offer anything of value in exchange for a review, do not filter your review requests so only happy patients are asked, and do not publish testimonials describing outcomes a typical patient would not achieve without making that clear. The Federal Trade Commission announced a final rule in 2024 targeting fake and misleading reviews and testimonials, which makes shortcuts in this area considerably riskier than they used to be. Separately, publishing a patient's story, photograph or before and after images involves their health information, so get written authorisation covering exactly where the material will appear. Ask an agency how review requests are sent, what the wording is, and who responds to negative reviews, because a public response that confirms someone was a patient is itself a disclosure.
Budget, measurement and the questions to ask
Judge dental marketing on new patients and on the value of the treatment they accept, not on clicks or rankings. That means the front desk has to record how each caller found you, and the agency's numbers have to reconcile with the practice management system rather than living in a dashboard. Call tracking matters more than form tracking because most patients ring; agree that a very short call is not a lead, and agree who listens to recordings and where they are stored. On fees, ask whether management is a flat monthly amount or a share of ad spend, because the second rewards spending more. Ask what the minimum engagement and the notice period are. And insist that the ad accounts, the analytics property and the business profile belong to the practice with the agency granted access, so that a change of supplier costs you a login and not your history.
Questions people ask about advertising for dentists
What is the highest return channel for a general practice?
For most general practices it is local search: a complete verified business profile, a steady flow of genuine reviews, and a fast mobile site that makes calling easy. Paid search adds reach on terms you do not yet rank for, and elective treatments need content that answers the research questions.
Can we offer a discount for leaving a review?
No. Offering anything of value in exchange for a review, or asking only satisfied patients, creates a misleading picture of your practice and the Federal Trade Commission's 2024 rule on fake and misleading reviews addresses exactly these practices. Ask every patient, and make it easy.
Do state dental board rules really apply to my website?
Yes. Board advertising rules generally cover any communication about your services, including your website, social profiles and paid ads. Read your own state's rules, give them to your agency in writing, and have a dentist in the practice approve copy before it publishes.
How should I judge the agency after three months?
On new patients recorded in your practice management system and the treatment they accepted, reconciled against the agency's reported leads. Also check the unglamorous things: is the business profile complete, are reviews arriving, does the site load quickly on a phone, does the phone get answered.