Dental advertising is bought by practices in two very different situations. One has empty hygiene slots and needs local visibility at a sensible cost per new patient. The other wants high value elective cases, implants, orthodontics or cosmetic work, where a single accepted plan can be worth many routine visits and the competition bids accordingly. The channels overlap but the economics do not, and a proposal that does not say which one it is aimed at is aimed at neither. On top of that sit advertising rules that apply to health claims, testimonials and reviews more strictly than most agencies expect. This page covers all three.
Where the money goes, and what each channel is for
Paid search captures people already looking for a dentist, an emergency appointment or a specific procedure. It is the most direct channel and the most expensive per click in competitive metros, particularly for implant and cosmetic terms, because a single case justifies a high bid. Paid social does the opposite job: it creates demand for elective work among people who were not searching, which means it needs a stronger offer, a longer follow up and patience with a slower path to a booked consultation. Local visibility, meaning your business profile and the pages behind it, is not advertising at all but it determines how much of your paid demand converts, since a profile with recent detailed reviews turns the same clicks into more calls. The mistake practices make is buying the elective machine while the routine one leaks: paying premium prices for implant clicks that land on a site with no visible pricing guidance, no financing information and a booking form that fails on a phone. Fix the leak, then buy the traffic. Any proposal that reverses that order is selling media rather than patients.
Claims, reviews and the rules that bind a dental advertiser
Two federal frames matter alongside your state board's rules, which are frequently stricter and always take precedence where they are. The FTC's health products compliance guidance sets out the substantiation expected behind health related advertising claims, and the practical effect is that language about outcomes, permanence, comfort or safety on a treatment page has to be defensible rather than aspirational. The second frame is reviews and endorsements. The FTC's rule banning fake reviews and testimonials, announced in 2024, addresses practices including fake or misrepresented consumer reviews, undisclosed insider reviews and the suppression of negative reviews. That is directly relevant to dentistry, where incentivised review requests and review gating are still sold as tactics by agencies who have not read the guidance. Ask any candidate how they generate reviews, whether anything of value is offered in exchange, and whether unhappy patients are routed away from public review platforms. If any of those answers sound clever, they are the ones that create risk. The American Dental Association's legal and regulatory resources are a reasonable starting point for the professional obligations that sit on top.
Judging an advertising proposal without an agency background
Four things separate a credible advertising proposal from a hopeful one. It states the goal as a cost per new patient or a cost per accepted case rather than a cost per click or per lead, and it says how each will be measured. It separates media spend from the management fee, so you can see how much of your money reaches the auction, and it says what the fee does when spend goes down. It names who runs the account day to day and how often it is worked on, since accounts left on autopilot drift within weeks. And it says what happens to the account, the data and the creative when the relationship ends, which should be that they stay with the practice. When you are comparing advertising companies more broadly, those four questions travel to any channel and any vertical. Ask also for the tracking plan in plain language: which calls are recorded and why, what happens to a form filled at midnight, and how a booked appointment gets connected back to the ad that produced it. If nobody can explain that chain, the reporting you receive will be a story.
Questions people ask about dentist advertising
How much does a new patient cost through paid search?
It varies by metro and by procedure more than by any national average, so ask your agency to model it from your own numbers instead. Start with the margin on the treatment you want, decide what you would happily pay for one more of those patients, and use that as the ceiling. Then measure the real figure after sixty days and adjust.
Can we offer a gift card for a review?
Treat incentivised reviews as high risk. The FTC's rule on fake and misleading reviews addresses misrepresented reviews and related practices, and offering something of value in exchange for reviews is precisely the area it targets. Ask patients for honest reviews with no condition attached, and never route unhappy patients away from public platforms.
Should new patient offers be advertised at a discount price?
Discount offers fill routine slots and attract price sensitive patients who often do not return, which is fine if hygiene capacity is the problem and counterproductive if you want elective cases. Whatever you advertise, the terms must be clear and the advertised price must be honoured as stated.
Do state dental board rules override the federal guidance?
State board rules sit on top and are frequently stricter, particularly on specialty designations, before and after imagery and testimonials. Check your own board's advertising rules before signing off creative, and ask your agency to confirm in writing that it has read them.