If you’re a dentist who wants to grow your dental practice, marketing is something you’ve had to think about from day one. You open the doors, you’ve got the clinical skills, you’ve got the team, but at the end of the day you still need new patients walking in to be successful.

So you start looking around. What can you do for marketing? What should you try? What are other practices doing? And once you start looking into it, you realize there are a lot of marketing companies out there telling you they have the solution to your problem.

And if you sit down and talk to them, every single one will confidently tell you the same thing: what they sell is the thing that will bring you more new patients. The SEO company says SEO is the answer. The Google Ads expert says paid traffic is the fastest way to grow. The website design agency says your website is holding you back.

And if you’re a dentist who’s been practicing for a few years, you’ve probably tested a few marketing strategies. Some might have worked really well. But most were probably just a big waste of time and money.

Now imagine this. Wouldn’t it be much easier if you could just go to other dentists across the country and ask them straight up: what brought you the most new patients? What actually worked for you in marketing? And what would you never do again because it was a total waste of money?

That’s exactly what we wanted to find out. We created a survey dentists could answer anonymously, and asked them what they’ve actually tried over the past ten years to grow their practice.

And then for every strategy they said they tried, we asked them:

We wanted to understand what really happened when they tried it. So let’s break down what dentists actually tried, what worked, what didn’t, and where they saw the best return.

Let’s start with some good news. There are a few marketing strategies that are completely free. And when we looked at the data, some of these free strategies actually outperformed the paid ones.

So which ones came out on top? Let’s look at the top three.

89% of dentists in our survey had actively worked on getting more reviews. And when you think about it, it makes sense. When a patient needs a dentist, they go to Google and type in “dentist near me,” they see a few clinics, and they pick based on who looks the most trustworthy.

And for dentists, Google reviews are a big part of building that trust. If the practice down the street from you has 400 reviews and a 4.9 rating and you have 30 with a 4.8 rating, patients will pick your competitor down the street.

Also, Google reviews brought in good quality patients too. 48% of the dentists that tried Google reviews rated the patients they got a 5 out of 5.

Now, when we asked dentists what they did to collect reviews, most of them weren’t doing anything complicated. Some used automated tools like Weave or BirdEye or Trustpilot to send follow up messages after appointments. Others just asked patients directly. The dentists who got the most reviews just had a consistent system for tracking and asking for them.

But here’s something one dentist pointed out that really highlights the main issue most practices have with collecting reviews: “Getting reviews depends heavily on your staff. If your front desk isn’t asking, it doesn’t happen.”

As a dentist, you’re in the operatory most of the day. You don’t really see how your staff interacts with patients at the front desk. You don’t know if they’re actually asking for reviews, or if they’re just telling you they are.

And here’s something we’ve been telling our clients for years. If you actually want to grow and beat your competitors on Google reviews, the easiest thing you can do is get a whiteboard.

Write your practice name on it, then add the names of your top five competitors. Every week or month, track how many new reviews each practice gets.

Now suddenly everyone in the office can see the score. Your team sees if you’re falling behind. They see when a competitor is pulling ahead. And when your number goes up, they see that too.

It turns reviews into something visible and measurable. And once it’s on the board, it becomes something the whole team starts paying attention to.

Here’s a funny story. A couple of years ago, one of our clients kept hearing the same thing from his staff for months. They told him they ask patients for reviews every day, but nobody wants to leave reviews. Patients are busy. They just want to get out the door.

So he decided to try something new. He told his team that if they managed to become the most reviewed dental practice in their very competitive area, he would close the practice for a few days and take the entire staff on an all inclusive vacation to the Dominican Republic. He needed about 350 reviews to become the top rated practice.

Guess what happened? They got there in 3 weeks. They collected more reviews in 3 weeks than they had in nearly 3 years.

Now to most of you this may feel extreme. That vacation probably cost him $10,000 or more. However, because he became the most reviewed dental practice in the city, they brought in so many new patients that the investment paid for itself many times over. They generated an additional $1.2 million in production the following year. So was it worth it? Yeah, definitely.

So set a clear goal for your team and put a prize on the table. Because when your team can actually see the scoreboard and the prize, they start caring about the score, and suddenly asking patients for reviews goes from something that happens now and then to something that happens after every appointment.

77% of dentists in our survey said they had actively worked on getting more referrals. And out of every strategy we looked at, referrals produced the highest quality patients.

In fact, 59% of dentists who received referrals rated those patients a 5 out of 5 in quality. Higher than any other marketing channel in the entire survey.

And it makes total sense. A referred patient was sent to you by someone they already trust, like a close friend or a family member. So they walk in already confident in you. They’re not comparing you to three other practices down the street. In their mind, the decision has already been made.

And when it comes to generating referrals, most dentists in our survey weren’t running complicated reward programs or anything like that. They said referrals were simply happening naturally.

One interesting comment a dentist left in the survey was that referrals tend to bring in like minded people. Your best patients send you more people just like them. So if you already have great patients and they refer someone, there’s a very good chance that new patient will also be a great fit for your practice.

From a marketing standpoint, referrals have one big limitation. They’re not very scalable.

You can’t just throw more money at referrals and suddenly double the number of patients coming in next month. Sure, you can try things like referral rewards or incentives, but those only work if the patient experience is already great.

Because at the end of the day, the real engine behind referrals is the experience patients have in your practice. If someone has a great visit, they might tell their friends or family. If they don’t, they won’t.

And the challenge is that you can’t really “turn up the dial” on that. If you’re already providing a great patient experience, there’s only so much more you can do. Referrals either come in, or they don’t, and you don’t have all that much control over them.

That’s why referrals tend to be inconsistent. Some months you get a lot of them. Other months you barely get any. They’re incredibly valuable when they happen, but from a marketing perspective they’re not something you can reliably scale or depend on to consistently grow your practice.

This is something many dentists have probably thought about at some point. Inside your patient management system, you already have a huge list of patients who came to your practice, had a good experience, but never booked another appointment.

Maybe they got busy. Life got in the way. They meant to call back and never did.

In our survey, about 20% of dentists said they had tried recall campaigns. And the way they reached out was through a mix of SMS, email, and phone calls. They weren’t relying on just one channel. Reaching out in multiple ways increases the chances that the patient actually responds.

When it came to managing the campaigns, 86% relied on their own staff to handle it. No agency, no outside help. Just their existing team using their patient management system.

The remaining 14% used dedicated third party tools to automate the process. The platforms that came up most often were Weave, Solutionreach, NexHealth, and Dental Intelligence.

And dentists who tried recall campaigns didn’t just run them once and move on. Most kept them running for 12 months or longer. Which makes sense, because this isn’t a one time effort. Every month, new patients become inactive. So the campaign just runs in the background and continues bringing people back.

When we looked at the results, most dentists rated the quality of returning patients a 4 or 5 out of 5. And that makes total sense. These people already know you. They’ve already visited your practice and had a good experience. You’re not trying to convince them to choose you. You’re simply reminding them it’s time to come back.

So before you spend money trying to attract brand new patients, it’s worth looking at the ones already sitting in your system. They’re the low hanging fruit.

Now let’s move on to paid strategies. When most dentists think about marketing, they usually think about spending money. Running ads, doing SEO, sending flyers, or investing in something that will bring in more new patients.

But not all marketing strategies are created equal. You could spend one dollar on one strategy and get two dollars back. Spend that same dollar somewhere else and get ten dollars back. Every marketing channel has a different return on investment.

It’s no surprise this is the most popular paid marketing strategy we found in the survey. When a patient in your area searches for a dentist, Google Ads puts your practice right at the top of the search results. You’re not waiting to show up organically with SEO, which could take 6 to 12 months or more. Ads are instant and you can show up at the top of the page right away.

And for many dentists, that’s incredibly appealing. If you’re starting a new practice or you simply need more new patients right away, Google Ads gives you immediate visibility. That’s why so many dentists rely on it.

Google Ads can work very well, but it’s not cheap. To actually generate new patients, you need to be willing to invest a meaningful amount each month. In our survey, most dentists who reported good results with Google Ads were spending between $1,000 and $2,000 per month.

But that number can vary quite a bit depending on where your practice is located. If you’re in a smaller market where not many other practices are running ads, clicks can actually be pretty affordable. You might get away with $500 to $1,000 in ad spend and pay a marketing company another $500 to $1,000 to manage it. In that kind of market, Google Ads can absolutely work within a $1,500 to $2,000 total budget.

But here’s the reality for most dentists in North America. Dozens of practices in your area are probably already running Google Ads, because it’s one of the fastest ways to get new patients. And when a lot of people are bidding on the same keywords, the cost goes up.

In most competitive markets, you’d need at least $1,500 in ad spend alone just to have a real shot, and then you’re paying your agency on top of that.

Another thing dentists need to understand about Google Ads is that it usually takes time to really start working well. You might get some results in the first month. But if you want to get the most out of your campaigns, Google Ads usually needs to run for several months. That’s because the system is constantly learning. It’s figuring out which keywords bring the right patients, which ads people actually click on, and which searches lead to phone calls or appointment requests.

Over time, the campaigns become more optimized and the results usually improve. In our survey, dentists who ran Google Ads for 12 months or longer were much more likely to say it brought them a steady flow of new patients compared to dentists who only tried it for a few months and then stopped.

When it came to patient quality, 78% of dentists in our survey rated the quality of patients they got through Google Ads a 4 or 5 out of 5. When someone searches on Google for things like “dentist near me,” “emergency dentist,” or “family dentist,” they’re usually looking for care right now. 

They already have a clear intent to book an appointment. So by the time they click on your ad and call your practice, they’re not just casually browsing. They’re actively looking for a dentist.

And when it comes to how dentists actually run their Google Ads, 91% aren’t doing it themselves. Google Ads is a complex system and if you don’t have experience with the platform, it’s very easy to burn through your budget without getting the results you’re hoping for. That’s why most dentists rely on an expert to manage it.

When it comes to SEO, dentists usually have one of two experiences.

Some dentists understand that SEO takes time. They know it’s a long term investment, so they commit to it and give it the time and budget it needs to work. Others go into it hoping for quick results. When they don’t see a big improvement in the first month or two, they assume it isn’t working and they stop.

From there, the receptionist can ask a few discovery questions to understand the patient’s situation:

And our survey data showed a very clear pattern. The dentists who actually saw results were the ones who committed to SEO long term. Most of them ran SEO for 12 months or more and invested somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000 per month. On the other hand, dentists who spent less and stopped after just a few months usually saw very little return and thought SEO was a waste of money.

A proper dental SEO strategy usually involves several things working together. Optimizing your website, improving your Google Business Profile, building backlinks, and publishing content regularly.

And that’s exactly what we saw in the survey:

The key takeaway here is that none of these things work very well in isolation. Optimizing your website alone usually isn’t enough to rank. Working on your Google Business Profile alone usually isn’t enough either. SEO works when all of these elements are happening together and consistently over time. That’s why dentists who only tried one or two things and stopped early rarely saw much progress.

When it came to patient quality, 70% of dentists rated the quality of patients a 4 or 5 out of 5. When patients search on Google, they can clearly see which results are ads. Google labels them as sponsored, so people know those placements are paid for.

Organic results tend to carry more trust because they feel earned rather than bought. People who call you because they found your practice organically on Google have this perception that you’re showing up because you must be a good practice. They are generally very high quality patients who are easy to book.

Now let’s talk about the marketing strategies dentists tried that ultimately turned out to be money down the drain.

In our survey, dentists had a lot of different marketing strategies to choose from. But a few of them kept coming back with the same story: a lot of money spent and very little to show for it. And what’s interesting is that some of these strategies are still being used by dentists today, and in many cases they’re still being actively pushed by marketing agencies.

On the surface, it sounds like it should work. Your practice name gets broadcast across the city, thousands of people hear about your clinic, and it feels like you’re getting your name out there.

But when we looked at what dentists in our survey actually got back from radio advertising, the story was very different. Most dentists who tried radio ads were spending $3,000 or more per month on these campaigns. And despite that level of investment, not a single dentist said it brought them a significant number of new patients.

One dentist even shared that the only reason they tried radio was because they won a free campaign. They said they got very few patients from it and wouldn’t recommend it.

And the reason radio ads struggle for dentists is actually pretty simple. When your ad plays on the radio, most of the people listening aren’t looking for a dentist. They’re driving to work, cooking dinner, or just going about their day. So you’re paying to reach a massive audience, hoping that one of those listeners happens to need a dentist at that exact moment and then remembers your practice later when they decide to book. That’s a very expensive gamble.

Once the patient feels heard and understood, promoting the practice stops feeling like a sales pitch. It just flows naturally from the conversation.

By this point the receptionist knows enough about the patient to make it personal. They’ve asked the right questions and listened carefully. So instead of just saying a generic list of services, they can highlight exactly what makes the practice a good fit for that specific person.

So let’s look at what the dentists in our survey actually experienced.

About 60% of dentists said they had tried social media marketing in some form. Most of them focused on organic posting. Things like sharing photos from the clinic, before and after pictures, team updates, or educational content. About half of the dentists said they only posted organically and didn’t run any paid ads at all.

Some dentists did experiment with paid ads on top of their posts. But most of them were spending less than $500 per month. And the dentists who spent money on social media ads reported almost the exact same results as the ones who were only posting organically. In other words, adding paid ads on top of social media posting barely moved the needle when it came to bringing in new patients.

Overall, the results from social media were not very strong. Not a single dentist in our survey said social media brought them a lot of new patients. Most said it brought them only a few. And many said they weren’t even sure if it brought them any patients at all.

When it came to patient quality, the ratings were also lower than any other strategy we looked at. On average, dentists rated social media patients 3 out of 5. And that probably explains why many dentists didn’t stick with it. About half of the dentists who tried social media stopped within six months. What’s interesting is that even the dentists who continued for 12 months or longer didn’t report much better results.

So why doesn’t it work? The answer is that social media is an entertainment platform. People open Instagram or Facebook to see what their friends are doing, watch funny videos, kill time. They’re not looking for a dentist. So unless your content stops them mid-scroll and makes them genuinely interested, the algorithm starts to hide it. People don’t find dental content on social media interesting. It’s not sexy. It’s not funny.

A lot of the content dentists post simply isn’t very interesting. You often see stock photos, generic dental tips, or captions that feel very corporate and boring. Things like “Don’t forget to floss” or “Your smile is important.” Content like that usually doesn’t grab anyone’s attention.

That said, there are dentists who get a lot of engagement online without going viral. Their posts get shared, and patients in their community actually pay attention to what they post. We put everything we learned from those dentists into a free social media guide that we update every year with new examples and strategies. You can find the link at the bottom of this article.

26% of dentists in our survey tried it. Most got back only a few new patients. When it came to patient quality, the ratings were also very low, 1 or 2 out of 5, making it one of the lowest rated strategies in the entire survey.

Some of the comments from dentists were pretty telling. One dentist said they tried it once and it wasn’t worth it. Another said they experimented with it years ago and the return on investment just wasn’t there.

And it’s not hard to understand why. Direct mail lands in a pile of other mail that most people flip through for about three seconds before most of it goes straight in the bin.

The people who do respond are usually responding to the offer: a free consultation, a discounted exam, a whitening special. So you’re attracting deal hunters, coupon clippers, and price shoppers. Patients who came in because of a discount are less likely to stay long term, less likely to accept bigger treatment plans, and more likely to leave the moment another practice offers them a better deal.

So in the end, many dentists reported spending a lot of money to acquire patients who weren’t very loyal and didn’t generate much long term value.

So let’s say you’re a dentist in a competitive market. You’ve decided to invest in marketing, and you have a monthly budget of about $1,500 to $2,000. The question is: how should you spend that money to bring in the most new patients?

First, focus on Google Reviews.

They’re completely free, they’re relatively easy to get, and you don’t need an agency to help you with this. Most practices can handle it in house with their own staff.

You can ask patients directly for a review, set up automated messages that go out after appointments, track how many reviews you’re getting every month, and make it a real priority for your team.

Reviews also have a compounding effect. The more reviews you have, the more trust you build online. And the more trust you build, the easier it becomes for new patients to choose your practice.

If you want a structured system for getting more Google reviews consistently, we created a Google Reviews course for dentists that covers exactly how to do this.

Google reviews help you build trust. But trust only matters once patients actually know your practice exists. You could be the best dentist in the city, but if nobody knows about your practice, you’re basically the best kept secret.

Now if you want to get visible and in front of patients who are actively searching for a dentist, you really have two options with a solid return on investment. Google Ads or SEO.

With Google Ads, the cost really depends on where you’re located. If you’re in a smaller market where not many other practices are running ads, clicks can actually be pretty cheap. You might get away with $500 to $1,000 in ad spend and pay a marketing company another $500 to $1,000 to manage it. In that scenario, Google Ads could absolutely work within this budget.

But here’s the reality for most dentists in North America. Dozens of practices in your area are probably already running Google Ads because of how effective they are and how quickly they can get results. And when a lot of people are bidding on the same keywords, the cost goes up. In most competitive markets, you’d need at least $1,500 in ad spend alone to have a real shot, and then you’re paying your agency on top of that.

And there’s another thing to understand about Google Ads. It’s like a tap. The second you turn it off, the water stops flowing. You stop paying Google, you stop showing up. You don’t exist.

That’s why with a budget of $1,500 to $2,000, you’re usually better off putting that into SEO.

Think of it like the difference between renting and owning a house. With Google Ads, you’re renting your visibility. Sure, the monthly cost might feel manageable, but the moment you stop paying, you’re out. With SEO, you’re building something you actually own. You’re earning rankings and building a reputation online that doesn’t just vanish when you stop writing checks.

Now just like a house, it takes upkeep. If you stop maintaining a house, it doesn’t fall apart the next day. But slowly, over time, things start to deteriorate. It’s the same thing with SEO. If you reach the first page on Google and then stop all work completely, your rankings aren’t going to disappear overnight. But without any ongoing effort, you will slowly start to slide down. It takes a while, but it happens.

The point is, with SEO you’re building an asset. With Google Ads, you’re renting one. And when your budget is limited, owning beats renting every time.

At the end of the day, getting a new patient in your chair isn’t just about running ads or getting more reviews. It’s a whole system working together.

You need visibility so patients find you. You need trust so they choose you over the practice down the street. Your staff needs to make a great first impression and actually convert that phone call into a booked appointment. And you need to track all of it, so you always know what’s working, what isn’t, and where you’re losing patients you should be keeping.

That’s exactly what we do at RevUp Dental. We handle dental marketing end to end, which means we take care of every piece of that system for you. And unlike most marketing companies that will run your ads and call it a day, we don’t stop there. If patients are finding you but not booking, that’s still our problem. We focus on the whole patient journey, from the moment someone searches for a dentist to the moment they sit down in your chair, and everything in between.

Dentists are juggling a lot. You’re a clinician, a business owner, an employer, and a marketer all at once. By the time you get to thinking about your website copy or what to post on social media, you just want it done.

That’s not an excuse. But it is why so many dentists end up with a college complaint over something they didn’t even know was a problem.

We sat down with John McIntyre, a certified specialist in health law and co-founder of McIntyre Szabo PC, to talk through the dental marketing mistakes he sees most often and what they actually cost dentists.

John has represented health care professionals across Ontario for over a decade, including cases that have gone all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. He also teaches public health law at Queen’s University.

What he shared was a lot more practical, and a lot more urgent, than most dentists expect.

According to John, the number one issue isn’t bad intentions. It’s not knowing the rules exist in the first place.

“It’s rarely that dentists are intentionally trying to break the rules,” he told us. “It’s often that they haven’t really looked into it, or didn’t understand what they were doing was offside.”

Here are the four areas he sees come up most often:

Phrases like “painless dentistry,” “guaranteed results,” or “risk-free treatment” are not allowed under RCDSO advertising guidelines. They create unrealistic expectations. A dentist might think it’s just good marketing copy. The college sees it as misleading.

They create unrealistic expectations. A dentist might think it’s just good marketing copy. The college sees it as misleading.

This one comes up constantly. A general dentist who does a lot of implants might call themselves an implant specialist. A dentist who offers some orthodontic services might let that language creep into their website. Both are offside. Ontario only recognizes 11 dental specialties, and using language that suggests you’re part of one when you’re not is a serious violation.

Running a draw where the winner gets a gift card? Offering a discount to encourage a patient to come in? These kinds of promotional incentive programs can easily cross into conflict of interest territory under the professional misconduct guidelines. The exception is small, nominal items directly connected to dental care, like the toothbrush and toothpaste patients take home after a visit. Those are specifically written into the regulations as acceptable.

If you advertise a fee, it has to be the maximum fee for all services included, unless otherwise specified. Dentists sometimes describe fees in a way that leaves out certain charges, and the college has been increasingly strict about this. It’s not just an advertising issue either. John points out that the college now connects fee transparency directly to informed consent, so getting it wrong can lead to complaints on two fronts.

Dentists sometimes describe fees in a way that leaves out certain charges, and the college has been increasingly strict about this. It’s not just an advertising issue either. John points out that the college now connects fee transparency directly to informed consent, so getting it wrong can lead to complaints on two fronts.

John shared a case that made it to the discipline committee. A dentist was listed on his clinic’s website as a specialist in orthodontics. He wasn’t. He hadn’t put it there himself. His web designer had added it, and he simply hadn’t caught it.

His defense was straightforward: it was an honest mistake, he never told patients he was an orthodontist, and nobody was harmed. The discipline panel didn’t accept it.

The outcome: a six-week license suspension, a formal reprimand, mandatory courses, two years of college-supervised advertising approval, and $15,000 in costs. All because of a single line on a website he hadn’t reviewed carefully enough.

The rule is clear: dentists are responsible for what is published about them online, even if they didn’t write it themselves. Not knowing it was there is not a defense.

John walked us through specific categories of phrases that trip dentists up:

This one caught us off guard in the conversation. When a patient has insurance that covers 80% of a treatment, a lot of dentists will quietly waive the remaining 20% as a goodwill gesture. It feels harmless. It’s actually insurance fraud.

The reason: if you waive the patient’s portion but still bill the insurer for the full amount, you’re giving the patient a 100% discount while the insurer gets none. The rule is that any discount has to be applied proportionally to both the patient and the insurance company. If you’re giving the patient a 20% discount, the insurer gets the same 20% discount.

Most dentists doing this aren’t trying to commit fraud. They’re trying to be kind. But the college doesn’t distinguish between intent and outcome on this one.

Every dentist knows how much Google reviews matter. They build trust, they influence decisions, and for a lot of patients, they’re the first thing they look at before booking an appointment. But John sees two review-related issues come up regularly that most dentists don’t anticipate.

Whether it’s asking friends and family who’ve never visited to leave a review, or using bots to inflate your rating, fake reviews are a serious compliance violation. John has had clients who had to go back and match every single Google review to an actual patient record to prove they were legitimate.

And that’s harder than it sounds, a lot of patients leave reviews under a username or a nickname rather than their real name, which doesn’t mean the review is fake, it just makes it really difficult to connect the dots and prove it’s genuine when the college comes asking.

And contrary to what some dentists assume, these complaints usually don’t come from patients. They come from competitors. If a practice that spent years earning 50 genuine reviews sees a competitor jump to 400 five-star reviews in 18 months, they notice. And they write in.

The instinct to defend yourself publicly after a bad review is understandable. But John has seen dentists accidentally breach patient privacy in their responses by disclosing information the patient never made public. One dentist, trying to be respectful, addressed a reviewer by their full last name. The reviewer had only used their first name in the review. That small act of formality was technically a privacy violation.

The reviewer had only used their first name in the review. That small act of formality was technically a privacy violation.

The safest approach: keep responses generic, professional, and focused on your commitment to patient care. Never reference specific treatment details, appointment history, or anything that confirms the person was actually your patient.

This is the part of the conversation that’s most relevant for any dentist working with an outside dental marketing team.

When it comes to regulatory complaints, the RCDSO only regulates dentists. Not marketing agencies, not staff members, not web designers. If something non-compliant goes out under your name, the college comes after you. The fact that an agency wrote it doesn’t change that.

The regulations are explicit: dentists can be held accountable for advertising they cause or permit, directly or indirectly. That’s a wide net.

John’s practical advice: do periodic audits of your own website and marketing materials. Make sure anyone working on your marketing has read and understands the RCDSO advertising guidelines. And get final approval on anything before it goes live. You don’t want to discover a problem three months after it’s been indexed by Google.

He also makes the point that working with a dental-specific marketing agency matters. A general marketing agency might think the most compelling thing they can do is call you the best dentist in the city. They won’t know that phrase is exactly what the college is looking for in a complaint.

John wrote about this in the Ontario Dentist Journal after seeing it come up repeatedly before the RCDSO. Third-party programs that promise new patients in exchange for payment are becoming more common. And many of them are structured in ways that put dentists in violation of the conflict of interest guidelines.

The core issue is that many of these programs involve paying patients, directly or indirectly, to join a new practice. That’s considered a rebate, which is specifically prohibited.

The fact that other dentists are using the same program is not a defense. The RCDSO can’t regulate those organizations because they’re not dentists. So instead, they make examples of the dentists who sign up with them.

John’s recommendation: if you’re considering any kind of third-party referral arrangement, have a lawyer review the contract before you sign anything.

If the college receives a complaint or identifies an issue on their own, you’ll get a notice by email or mail asking you to respond, usually within 30 to 35 days. Extensions are easy to get, so don’t panic about the timeline.

The approach John recommends in that response: show that you understand what went wrong, explain why it happened, and demonstrate clearly that you’ve taken steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again. The college is looking for what they call “governability,” basically evidence that you’re someone who takes the rules seriously and can be trusted to follow them going forward.

Most advertising complaints resolve at that initial stage, either with no further action or with a course requirement and a monitoring period. The cases that escalate to full discipline hearings, with possible suspension or license restrictions, tend to involve either clear intent to deceive or a pattern of repeated violations.

One important note: if you’ve already been through a marketing complaint before, your second or third one is going to be treated very differently. The bar for “I didn’t know” gets a lot higher after the first time.

John’s practical checklist for staying compliant:

Dental marketing compliance isn’t something most dentists think about until there’s a problem. John’s experience is that by then, it’s already more complicated and more expensive than it needed to be.

The good news is that most issues are avoidable with basic awareness. You don’t need a law degree. You need to know what the rules are, work with people who understand them, and keep an eye on what’s being said about you online.

As John put it: if you’re on the fence about a marketing claim, you’re probably already close to the line. The cost of fixing it before it becomes a problem is a lot lower than the cost of dealing with it after.

If you’re searching for how to get started with dental photography, chances are you want to book more cosmetic cases. Maybe you’re thinking that better before-and-after photos on your website will help attract patients. And you’re right, but only if those photos are taken and presented the right way.

The truth is, what dentists think patients want to see on a dental website is often very different from what actually convinces someone to choose a cosmetic dentist.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to take great dental photos, what equipment you really need, what to avoid, and how to use photography as part of a complete marketing strategy that actually brings in more cosmetic patients.

Dental photography is the process of capturing high-quality images of your patients’ smiles and treatment outcomes. At its core, it is simply a visual record of the work you do. But in modern dentistry, it has become much more than that. It is one of the fastest ways to build trust, increase case acceptance, and stand out from competitors.

There are two main types of dental photography:

Portrait Photography

These are patient-friendly images that show the smile and face in a natural, non-clinical way. Unlike intraoral or retractor photos, portraits help patients immediately understand the cosmetic outcome. They make it easier for patients to visualize how treatment will affect their appearance, which improves clarity and case acceptance.

Clinical Documentation

These are clinical images used for diagnosis, treatment planning, lab communication, and documentation. They are essential for clinical work, but not effective for patient-facing use. While dentists use these photos to evaluate detail and precision, patients often find them hard to interpret and disconnect.

Many dentists think of photography as internal documentation, but for patients it serves a different purpose. Before-and-after photos are the most direct way for patients to understand what you can achieve. Without them, patients must rely on explanations, assumptions, or generic examples that do not reflect your actual work.

When patients can see real treatment outcomes, it reduces uncertainty and builds confidence in the decision to move forward. Without visual proof, even excellent dentistry becomes harder to trust, especially for cosmetic or restorative treatment.

Patients don’t evaluate treatment the way a dentist does. They respond emotionally. Very often, a patient sees a full-face before-and-after and, for a moment, imagines themselves in that person’s place. They notice how much a smile changes someone’s expression, confidence, and overall presence. And in that instant, the thought appears: “I want that too.”

Photos that show the face, the expression, and the real transformation create that connection. It’s not just straighter teeth. It’s the story of someone who looks happier and more confident. That’s what convinces patients, not technical details.

And once a patient can picture themselves in the result, they stop overanalyzing price or steps. They become far more ready to say “Yes, I want this.”

When patients see a page filled with many real smile transformations and notice how confident and happy people look in the after photos, it becomes easier for them to believe you can deliver similar results for them. Seeing dozens of before-and-after cases, rather than just one or two, reinforces that these results are consistent and repeatable. That visual proof builds credibility and trust before a consultation even happens.

When dentists look for the best camera for dental photography, they often assume the answer is a specific model or an expensive professional setup. In reality, the camera itself is rarely the deciding factor. What matters far more is whether your setup allows you or your team to capture consistent, patient-friendly photos. 

Your background should never compete with the smile. Use simple, solid colours such as white, grey, black, or light blue. These tones keep attention where it belongs, on the patient.

Avoid messy or clinical backgrounds. Dental chairs, equipment, posters, and sinks distract the eye and instantly make the image feel like a treatment room instead of a transformation story.

Using the same simple background creates a unified, polished look that makes transformations feel more believable and professional. This visual consistency signals a premium standard of care, which is especially important in cosmetic dentistry. When patients pay premium fees, they expect a premium presentation.

Have the patient stand about 10 to 15 centimeters in front of the background. This small distance prevents shadows and helps separate the face from the wall.

Keep the camera at eye level with the patient. Shooting from above or below distorts facial proportions. Ask for a natural, relaxed smile. Not a forced grin and not a clinical “show me your teeth” expression. A calm, genuine smile communicates confidence and approachability, which is exactly what future patients want to see.

Frame the photo to include the head and the top of the shoulders. Centre the face in the frame and leave a little space above the head. This gives the image balance and makes it easier to match later.

Avoid zooming in too tightly on the mouth. Patients do not connect with mouths. They connect with faces. The smile should be the focus.

Aim for a consistent look across all your before-and-after photos. When patients see a wall or page where the background, lighting, and framing all match, and only the patients change, it creates a strong premium impression. It subtly communicates that the practice pays attention to details.

For patients searching for cosmetic dentistry, that consistency signals professionalism, quality, and care. It helps them feel confident that this is the kind of practice where high-end results are the standard, not the exception.

You need to:

• Use the same background every time.
• Use the same lighting setup.
• Use the same framing.
• Use the same angles.

In the previous section, we covered how simple, consistent portraits help patients feel comfortable choosing your practice. It is important to understand that not all dental photos serve that purpose. Some images are extremely useful for clinical work, but work against you when shown to patients.

Extreme close-ups of teeth, gums, retractors, saliva, mirrors, and instruments look clinical and uncomfortable to most patients. Even when there is no blood or visible pathology, these images can trigger anxiety. Patients are not used to seeing mouths from this perspective, and many perceive it as invasive.

When these images appear on a website or landing page, patients stop focusing on the treatment result and instead react to how the images make them feel. This response is immediate and subconscious. Rather than building confidence, clinical close-ups often increase hesitation and reduce engagement.

In a user experience study, participants were shown multiple Invisalign landing pages and asked what they think. Here is an example:

Intraoral photos are extremely valuable clinically. They are excellent for diagnosis, treatment planning, progress tracking, lab communication, and professional education. They allow precision, standardisation, and technical evaluation.

But those same strengths make them completely inappropriate for patient-facing marketing. Patients do not evaluate margins, occlusion, or surface texture. What feels informative to a clinician feels cold and intimidating to someone considering cosmetic treatment.

Cosmetic patients do not choose treatment based on technical excellence. They choose based on how they feel when they imagine the result.

They respond to faces, smiles, and visible confidence. They want to see how a smile changes a person’s expression, posture, and presence. That emotional response is what makes a patient pick up the phone and call your practice. 

They do not respond to molar close-ups, cheek retractors, or mirror shots. Those images do not help them picture their future smile. In many cases, they do the opposite and make the process feel intimidating or medical rather than aspirational.

A course is only valuable when it matches your actual goals. Taking a dental photography course without a clear purpose often leads to frustration, unused equipment, and workflows that never get fully adopted. 

If your goal is to take simple, consistent photos for your website and social media, a dental photography course is usually unnecessary. Modern smartphones already handle exposure, focus, and colour automatically. When combined with good lighting, they are more than capable of producing patient-friendly portrait photos.

You likely do not need a course if you:

In these cases, improving your lighting and standardizing your photo setup will deliver far more value than learning camera theory.

A dental photography course becomes valuable when photography plays a strategic role in your practice, especially if cosmetic dentistry is a major focus or growth goal. 

If you want professional-level DSLR or mirrorless results, structured training helps you understand how to control ISO, aperture, shutter speed, lenses, and flash positioning. Without that knowledge, advanced cameras rarely deliver consistent results.

A course is worth considering if you:

For most practices, the smartest approach is gradual. Start with a smartphone and proper lighting. Build a simple, consistent system that produces clean, patient-friendly portraits. Use those images to support your marketing and help patients feel confident moving forward with treatment.

If you later feel limited by what your phone can do, or if your clinical or professional needs expand, then it makes sense to upgrade your equipment and consider formal training.

This approach avoids unnecessary spending and ensures photography supports your practice, not complicates it.

By this point, it should be clear that great dental photography matters. But it is equally important to understand where photography fits and where it does not. Photos are not a standalone solution. They are one part of a larger dental marketing system that turns interest into booked cosmetic cases.

Dental photography improves conversion, not visibility. In simple terms, photos help convince patients once they are already considering your practice by building trust. They do not bring new visitors to your website on their own. If patients do not know you exist, even the best before-and-after photos will have no impact.

Before dental photography can do its job, potential patients must be able to find you.

You can do this through:

• Google Ads puts your practice in front of patients who are already searching for cosmetic dentistry and are ready to act, giving you immediate visibility.
• Dental SEO helps your website appear naturally in search results over time, creating steady, long-term growth in cosmetic enquiries.

When a patient lands on your dental website,  they start asking themselves one question: Do I trust this practice enough to book a consultation?

A high-converting dental website has:

Together, these elements remove uncertainty and build trust with potential patients. They feel informed, reassured, and confident that they understand what to expect. Compared to competitors with stock images and short descriptions of dental procedures, your practice becomes the obvious best choice.

There is one final point where many dental practices quietly lose cosmetic patients.The first phone call.

Even the strongest dental marketing system cannot overcome a poor first phone interaction. When patients feel rushed, unheard, or uncertain, trust breaks immediately. Many practices lose cosmetic leads simply because front desk teams are not trained to handle cosmetic enquiries properly.

Your front desk staff must be able to:

A poor phone experience undoes everything your photos, website, ads, and content worked to achieve. A good one completes the journey and turns interest into a booked appointment.

What if you could ask the top dental practices in North America one simple question:

“How do you consistently get more new patients for your practice?”

And what if they gave you the straight answer, no fluff, no vague advice. Well, we actually can give you that answer.

At RevUp Dental, we work with hundreds of practices across North America, including some of the very best. Our Scorecard software gives us access to real performance data so we know exactly what the top 10% of practices do to fill their schedules.

And here’s the surprising truth: it’s not what most dentists think:

• It’s not huge marketing budgets.
• It’s not flashy websites.
• It’s not AI agents.
• It’s not some magic pill solution.

The secret is much simpler:

They have an exceptional front desk team that’s trained to convert calls into appointments and make every patient feel like a priority from the very first “hello.”

For many dental practices, the biggest growth barrier isn’t marketing, it’s the way staff handle patient interactions, especially over the phone. Marketing can bring in leads, but the quality of your team’s conversations with potential patients often makes or breaks whether they book an appointment.

Think of it like baseball: marketing is like pitching balls toward your dental practice. Your staff’s job is to hit them and score. You could get just a few balls, but if your team is great at hitting them, you’ll still score big.

On the other hand, you could have dozens of balls coming your way, but if your team keeps missing, you’re losing.

Most dental receptionists and office staff are not trained in sales. They may be friendly and courteous, but without proper skills in handling patient inquiries, they can easily miss opportunities to convert a lead into a booked appointment.

Think about it this way: you probably know how to drive a car but that doesn’t make you a race car driver.

The front desk staff at a $2M+ dental practice are the equivalent of top-level race drivers. They know how to handle every turn, shift, and challenge at high speed.

Can you make your front desk operate at that level? Yes, but it takes a lot of training, a natural gift for patient communication, and the right personality type. It’s not something most people achieve overnight.

But here’s the good news: you don’t need your staff to be perfect to see massive results. The easiest, low-hanging fruit is simply making your team a little bit better than they are today. Even modest improvements in how they answer calls, build rapport, and guide patients to book can have a huge impact on your production.

Here’s what the data from hundreds of practices we work with shows: the average dental receptionist books only about 33% of new patient calls. That means if 10 potential patients call your office, only 3 end up booking an appointment.

The top receptionists in the industry? They book 80–85% of those calls.

Now, here’s the good part: you don’t have to hit 85% to transform your practice. If your staff goes from 33% to just 60%, that’s almost double the number of new patients walking through your door.

Without spending a single extra dollar on marketing you could have twice as many new patients sitting in your chair next month.

When we talk to dentists about improving their booking rates, we often hear some version of this:

“Oh, my staff is amazing! If we got 10 new patient calls this week, they’d book at least 8 or 9 of them.”

Sounds great, right? The problem is… most practices have no data to back that up. They don’t track their call-to-booking conversion rates, so they don’t actually know:

• How many calls were answered
• How many turned into appointments
• Why the ones that didn’t book were lost

When we ask how they know their staff is performing so well, we often hear:

“Well, I’ve worked with these people for years. They’re fantastic!”

And maybe they are. But here’s the reality: without tracking and reviewing calls, you’re going on gut feeling, not facts. And in our experience, those gut feelings are almost always overly optimistic.

In fact, once we start tracking, even practices that swear they’re booking “most” of their calls are often surprised (and a little shocked) to find they’re closer to 30–35%.

If you’re looking for how to get more dental patients, improving how your staff handles new patient calls can transform patient flow.

Here are a few simple but effective strategies to consider:

Ask Open-Ended Questions

Alongside training, technology can play a big role in how to get more dental patients by tracking and following up on calls. Here’s how simple tools can help:

Track Your Calls

Call-tracking software gives you a clear picture of how calls are being handled. You can see:

• How many calls turn into booked appointments
• Which questions cause hesitation or lost opportunities
• Patterns in staff performance over time

With this data, you can coach your team to answer confidently, overcome objections, and avoid missed opportunities.

One of our clients even listens to call recordings in their spare time  and finds it incredibly helpful for improving conversion rates.

Example tools: CallRail | CallTrackingMetrics

Automate Follow-Ups

Not every patient books right away, but that doesn’t mean the lead is lost. Automated follow-up systems can send reminders, check-ins, or helpful information to keep the conversation going. Often, this extra touch turns a “maybe” into a “yes,” without spending more on marketing strategies.

Example tools: Podium | Weave 

Google reviews are one of the most powerful ways to attract new patients to your dental clinic. When prospective patients search for a new dentist, they often choose the practice with the highest rating and the most recent positive feedback.

A strong Google review profile:

• Builds trust with potential patients before they call
• Improves your visibility in local search results
• Helps you stand out from other dental practices in your area

Example Tools: Swell | Birdeye

After working with hundreds of dental offices across North America and reviewing thousands of patient calls, we’ve noticed something consistent: the best-performing practices follow a clear, repeatable pattern on every new patient call.

They don’t just answer questions — they guide the conversation in a way that makes the patient feel heard, understood, and confident about booking.

1. They Start With a Warm, Professional Greeting
“Thank you for calling [Practice Name], my name is Sarah. How can I help you today?”
This instantly sets a friendly, confident tone and signals professionalism.

2. They Use Discovery Questions to Build Rapport and Gather Information
Instead of jumping straight to scheduling, they ask thoughtful questions to understand the patient’s situation:

• “When was the last time you visited a dentist?”

• “Are you in pain right now?”

• “Have you researched dental implants before calling us?”

These questions uncover needs, address urgency, and show genuine interest.

3. They Transition to Taking Control of the Call
Once they’ve listened, top receptionists naturally guide the conversation:

“I can definitely assist you with that. Would you mind if I ask you a couple of questions to better understand your situation?”

This smoothly shifts the focus from casual conversation to structured next steps.

4. They Reassure and Reduce Anxiety
If the caller sounds hesitant, they provide reassurance:

• “You’ll be in great hands — our patients love how gentle Dr. Smith is.”

• “Most people are surprised by how quick and comfortable the process is.”

5. They End With a Positive, Confident Confirmation

“We’re looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday at 10 AM. You’re going to love our team!”

These aren’t random phrases — they’re intentional communication techniques that top practices use to consistently convert calls into booked appointments.

At RevUp Dental, we’ve spent years studying what makes these offices so successful. We’ve distilled those lessons into a free guide you can use to train your own dental team.

This isn’t about pushy, outdated sales tactics, it’s about modern, patient-focused communication techniques that work in today’s competitive dental market.

The guide dives deep into one of the most important skills in patient communication: asking effective discovery questions. These questions build trust, uncover patient needs, and position your practice as the best choice for their care.

By adopting the same approach top practices use, you can take control of every new patient call, create an exceptional first impression, and keep more leads from slipping through the cracks.

If you’re serious about getting more new patients, you don’t have to start with expensive ads or a new website. The fastest and most cost-effective way to grow is by improving how your front desk handles new patient calls.

But here’s the reality: most dentists don’t have the time or energy to personally train their staff, and even if they do, the results often don’t stick. Maybe you’ve given your team a guide before, only to see them go right back to their old habits a week later.

That’s exactly why we created our Maximize New Patient Bookings Course. We don’t just teach your team what to do, we:

• Train them using proven call-handling and conversion techniques

• Monitor their real calls after the training to ensure skills are being applied

• Provide feedback and ongoing coaching so the improvement lasts

It’s the shortcut to turning more calls into booked appointments without adding another task to your already full plate. If you want a higher booking rate, more new patients, and a smoother front desk operation without having to manage the training yourself, our course can do it for you.