What Do Patients Really Look For When Seeking A New Dentist?

Dentists have something of a hard sell when it comes to attracting new patients. After all, roughly 30 to 40 million Americans experience some level of dental anxiety. When they phone your offices looking for a new dental practice, they’re likely looking for any excuse not to go with you. 

Luckily, while it’s not a service we love, dentistry is a vital element of modern life, so you have an upper hand even when it doesn’t feel like it. But, how do you ensure you’re offering everything new patients are looking for when they set about seeking a new dentist?

Step 1: Build Positive Online Reviews

75% of patients look at online reviews when seeking a local dentist, meaning that one negative review on a platform like Google reviews could prevent them from ever contacting your office.  Unfortunately, you can’t prevent the occasional negative review, but you can make them harder for new patients to find by ensuring there are plenty of positive reviews to drown them out. 

Ensuring quality service is key here, but you also need to make sure happy patients take the time to review you. The best way to do this is to simply send follow-up texts with a review link after each appointment. Make it worth a patient’s while to follow that link with incentives like free entry into a prize draw for a hygienist appointment or something similar. 

Step 2: Offer Cutting-Edge Treatments

Patients are unlikely to choose your practice if you only offer traditional treatments like fixed braces and amalgam fillings. Like any service, they’re going to choose a dental practice that can help them tap into the benefits of cutting-edge treatments like CEREC crowns that are created there and then, or help them discover Omnichroma Flow Bulk as a subtle alternative to visible fillings. Equally, patients these days are far more likely to choose you if you offer invisible modern treatments like clear aligners over fixed braces. 

Keeping on top of dental advancements is key, but you also need to take steps toward ensuring you can offer them. This could include employing new staff with experience in each of these areas, ensuring up-to-date staff training, or even investing in new dentistry technology at all times. 

Step 3: Improved Patient Experiences

Improving the patient experience is also key to attracting new patients and holding onto happy existing ones and is something you should consider across your practice. It’s especially worth noting the main reasons people leave their dentists, which include late starts to appointments, critical dental staff, and a lack of sedation options. 

Ensuring prompt, kind, service seems especially key to easing any dental anxieties and keeping all patients onside. When new patients get in contact, it’s important to match them with the best dentist for their unique history and approach their care with a compassionate, rather than a critical, stance. 

Dentists don’t need to be the big bad wolves of the healthcare world. Instead, they can welcome new patients with open arms using these top tips.