When someone searches for a dentist nearby, your star rating and review count sit right beside your practice name in Google Maps, next to every other practice in the area. Patients read those reviews before they call. Getting more of them costs very little. Most of the work is building a habit of asking, so that it happens after every visit instead of whenever someone remembers.
Why reviews turn into calls
A new patient is choosing a stranger to work in their mouth, and reviews are how they decide whether to trust you before meeting anyone. They notice the rating, how many reviews you have and how recent the last few are. Then they read what people say about the front desk, or how a nervous patient was treated.
Reviews also affect whether you show up at all. Google's own guidance on local ranking says high-quality, positive reviews can improve a business's visibility. So reviews help you appear in the map results, and then they help the person looking at those results pick you. Our Google Business Profile guide covers the rest of the listing.
Ask at the right moment, and ask everyone
The best time to ask is at the end of the visit, while the experience is fresh. Some moments make it easy, like a patient grinning at their new crown in the mirror, or someone who was terrified getting through a cleaning without trouble. When a patient says something kind, that's your opening.
Timing the ask is fine. Choosing who gets asked based on whether you expect a good review is a problem. Google's policies say businesses shouldn't selectively ask for positive reviews, and a survey that sends happy patients to Google and unhappy ones to a private form does exactly that. Build the ask into every visit, or every visit of a certain type, so it never depends on anyone's guess about a patient's mood.
Decide who asks
The ask lands best from the person who spent the most time with the patient, usually the hygienist, the assistant or the dentist. A word from the doctor carries weight. The front desk then sends the link so the patient leaves with it on their phone.
Give the team one plain line so nobody has to improvise:
"If you were happy with today, a Google review would really help us. We'll text you the link."
Talk about it in the morning huddle for a few weeks until it sticks. If one person on the team is good at asking, have them show the others how they do it.
Send a short text with a direct link
Your Business Profile gives you a link that opens the review form for your practice, so the patient doesn't have to search for you. Look for the option to ask for reviews in your profile, or see Google's Business Profile help. Send it by text the same day.
Keep the message short:
"Hi [first name], thanks for coming in today. If you have a minute, we'd love a Google review: [link]. Thank you, [practice name]"
Leave treatment details out of the text, since a message that names a procedure puts patient information on a phone screen. Only text patients who've agreed to get texts from you. Consent rules for review requests may differ from those for appointment reminders, and they vary by state, so check with counsel.
If your patient communication software can send review requests automatically, set it to go out after every visit. Some of these tools offer a "survey first" option that only forwards high scores to Google. Turn that off. One reminder a few days later is reasonable. After that, let it go.
Reply to every review
Replies show people reading your profile that someone at the practice pays attention. Keep them short, and sign them from a real person when you can.
Thank people for positive reviews without adding details. Even if a patient writes about their implant, your reply shouldn't mention the implant or anything else from their visit. "Thank you for the kind words. We really appreciate you taking the time" is plenty.
Negative reviews need more care. HIPAA limits what you can say in public about a patient, and that includes confirming the person is your patient at all. "We checked your chart and you missed two appointments" breaks that rule in one sentence, and so does "We're sorry your crown didn't go as planned." Federal regulators have taken action against dental practices for revealing patient details in replies to online reviews.
A reply that works for almost any complaint:
"Thank you for the feedback. We take every concern seriously and would like to talk with you directly. Please call [name], our office manager, at [phone]."
It doesn't confirm anything, and it moves the conversation somewhere private where you can actually help. Make sure whoever answers that phone knows the call might come. Don't argue in public, and never reply while angry. Write the reply, then read it again an hour later before you post it.
If a review breaks Google's policies, for example spam or an obvious fake, you can report it from your profile. Google won't remove a review just because it's negative. If you're unsure how HIPAA applies to a particular reply, check with counsel before you post it.
What not to do
- Don't offer anything in exchange for a review. Discounts, gift cards, raffle entries and free whitening all count. Google's policies don't allow incentives for reviews, and your state board may have its own rules on giving patients things of value.
- Don't gate reviews. Asking only the patients you expect to be happy, or filtering people through a survey first, goes against Google's policies. A wall of identical praise is also less believable than an honest mix.
- Don't post fake reviews, and don't ask staff, family or friends to pose as patients. The FTC's 2024 rule on consumer reviews and testimonials prohibits fake reviews, paying for positive ones and undisclosed reviews from people inside the business. It also covers threatening or intimidating people to keep negative reviews down, and it lets the FTC seek civil penalties.
- Don't buy reviews from a service, however it describes itself.
Rules on testimonials vary by state, so if you plan to reuse reviews in your own advertising, check with your state dental board or counsel first.
This week
Copy your review link from your Business Profile and write the text your team will send. Decide who asks at the end of each visit. Then put 15 minutes on the calendar every Friday to reply to whatever came in. To see where reviews fit among your other lead sources, read our top 10 ways dental practices get more leads, or for the wider local picture, local SEO for dental practices.
