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Guide · Questions answered
Dental marketing questions, answered
These are the questions UK practice owners and managers ask us most, and the ones they type into Google and AI assistants. Each answer is short and links to a fuller page if you want more detail.
What is dental marketing?
Dental marketing is everything a practice does to attract new patients and bring existing ones back: Google and social media ads, its website, Google Business Profile, reviews, email and recalls. For private practices, the paid side usually focuses on specific treatments such as implants, aligners, bonding and private new-patient exams. Good dental marketing doesn’t stop at the enquiry. It includes how quickly enquiries are followed up, how consultations are booked and how the practice measures which activity produced paying patients. That last part is where most practices have the biggest gap. How Nuvic approaches it.
Who is the best dental marketing agency in the UK?
No agency is objectively the best for every practice. Agencies differ in what they lead with: some with brand and creative, some with websites and SEO, some with paid acquisition, and some are large multi-industry agencies with a dental offer. The right one depends on whether your problem is too few enquiries, the wrong enquiries, poor follow-up or not knowing which campaigns pay. Ask any agency what it reports on, who owns the ad accounts and how it checks compliance. We have written a fair comparison of UK dental marketing agencies, including us, with a checklist for choosing.
How much does dental marketing cost?
Most paid dental marketing has two costs: a management fee for the agency, and an ad budget paid to Meta and Google, ideally from accounts the practice owns. The right budget depends on the treatments you are marketing, how competitive your area is, how many patients your clinicians can take and how well your team converts enquiries. Treat any fixed package with caution until someone has looked at your numbers. Judge the cost on what a treated patient costs to win, not what a lead costs. Our guide to dental marketing costs in the UK explains each part.
How much should a dental practice spend on marketing?
Work backwards from patients rather than from a percentage. Decide how many new patients you want for a treatment each month, then use your own figures for how many enquiries become consultations and how many consultations become treatment. That tells you how many enquiries you need, and a short test shows what each one costs in your area. Budget should also follow capacity: there is no point buying consultations your clinicians can’t see. Percentage-of-revenue rules can be a sense check, but they ignore your treatment mix and conversion. Read how dental marketing pricing works.
Are Facebook ads worth it for dentists?
Yes, for the right treatments. Many people who end up having aligners, bonding, veneers or implants weren’t searching when they first saw an ad. Facebook and Instagram are where that demand starts. The catch is that Meta will find whatever you tell it success looks like, so a campaign optimised for form fills will find people who fill in forms. Qualifying questions, quick follow-up and sending booked consultations back to Meta through the Conversions API make the difference between cheap leads and real patients. See Facebook and Instagram ads for dentists.
Should dentists use Google Ads or Facebook ads?
Usually both, for different jobs. Google catches people already searching, such as “dental implants near me” or “private dentist Leeds”, so it suits treatments people actively look for. Facebook and Instagram create demand among people who haven’t searched yet, which suits cosmetic treatments that people consider for months. Run together and tracked to bookings, each tends to make the other more efficient, because someone who saw your Instagram video is more likely to click your Google ad later. If budget is tight, start with the channel closest to your priority treatment. Compare Google Ads for dentists and Meta ads for dentists.
How do I stop paying for NHS enquiries?
Say “private” clearly in the ad and on the landing page, and show what a new-patient exam or treatment costs. On Google, exclude searches such as “NHS dentist”, “free dental check-up” and “emergency dentist free” with negative keywords, and review the search terms report weekly. On Meta, avoid wording that sounds like general registration, and add a short qualifying question to the form. A few NHS enquiries will still arrive, but the volume should drop sharply, and reception will spend less time on calls you can’t help. More on Google Ads for dentists and private new patient marketing.
How do I get more dental implant patients?
Run implant-specific campaigns on Google and Meta, with separate messages for single implants, full-arch and dentures-to-implants. Ask qualifying questions so your treatment coordinator knows who to prioritise. Call back within minutes, because implant patients often contact several practices. Then follow up for longer than feels natural: the gap between enquiry and a signed plan can run to weeks or months, and that is where most practices lose cases. Explain finance clearly and early, within the rules for credit advertising. Finally, track which campaigns lead to accepted treatment plans, not just enquiries. See dental implant marketing.
How do I get more Invisalign patients?
Create demand on Instagram and Facebook with real clinicians and genuine patient stories, and catch people already comparing aligners on Google. Send both to a page that answers cost and monthly finance up front, explains how long treatment takes and describes the first appointment. Remember you are competing with direct-to-consumer aligner brands as well as nearby practices, so your in-person assessment and real results are your advantage. Reply quickly, and keep following up with people who enquired but didn’t book, because much aligner revenue is won there. Read Invisalign and clear aligner marketing.
How do I market composite bonding and veneers?
Treat them as separate campaigns. Bonding attracts lots of enquiries at a lower price point, so the work is in qualifying and following up fast. Veneers are a bigger, largely irreversible decision, so the work is in building trust over a longer period. For both, lead with the clinician and honest explanations of who the treatment suits, avoid copy that comments on the viewer’s appearance, and be careful with before-and-after images in paid social ads, where Meta’s policies restrict them. A smile preview on the landing page gives curious visitors a reason to leave their details. See composite bonding marketing and veneers marketing.
Why do dental practices lose leads?
Mostly because of what happens after the enquiry. Leads arrive while reception is checking patients in, some are called the next day, many get one attempt, and a few are never called at all. Without a CRM showing every enquiry and its status, nobody notices. Patients who enquire about private treatment often contact more than one practice, so the first to call usually wins. The fixes are simple to describe: an instant automatic reply, an alert to the right person, a call within minutes, a planned follow-up sequence and a daily list of leads nobody has rung. Read about lead conversion and dental CRM.
Can I track which patients came from my ads?
Yes, if the systems are joined up. Ad platforms see clicks and forms; your practice software sees appointments and payments. Tracking connects the two by matching each lead from Meta, Google, chat or phone to their bookings and treatment value. Once that is in place you can see cost per consultation, show rate and revenue by campaign, treatment, clinic and postcode, and you can send booked consultations back to the platforms so they optimise for patients. Patient data should stay protected: the match uses only what is needed, and marketing reports never show clinical records. See the patient tracking dashboard.
What are the GDC advertising rules for dentists?
The GDC’s standards require any advertising or promotional material to be accurate, not misleading and in line with its guidance on advertising. In practice that means no unsubstantiated claims, honest pricing, only using the title “specialist” if you are on a GDC specialist list, and showing practice information such as dentists’ names, qualifications and GDC numbers on your website. The ASA’s CAP Code applies alongside it, covering misleading claims, substantiation, prices and testimonials, and prescription-only medicines such as botulinum toxin can’t be advertised to the public. Check the current guidance directly. Our guide to Meta ads rules for dentists covers how these apply to social ads.
Is AI live chat worth it on a dental website?
For many practices, yes, because a large share of website visits happen in the evening and at weekends when nobody can answer the phone. A chat trained on your treatments, prices and tone of voice can answer common questions straight away, capture contact details and book appointments, so people who would have left the site become enquiries. It should hand over to your team for anything clinical or sensitive. Our own product, LeadFlow AI, does this for £49 a month for a single site or £99 a month for groups, and connects to GoHighLevel natively and to other CRMs by webhook. See also lead conversion.
How long does dental marketing take to work?
Paid ads can produce enquiries within days to a few weeks of launch, depending on the treatment and channel. Google search often brings enquiries first, because the people searching are already looking. Getting to consistently good results takes longer: the first month is mostly about tracking and launch, and the following months about moving budget towards the campaigns, clinics and postcodes that produce consultations and treatment. High-value treatments such as implants and veneers have long decision cycles, so revenue lags behind enquiries. Give a new setup around three months before judging it on treatment value. How Nuvic’s first ninety days work.
Questions practices ask
FAQs
Do dental practices need SEO as well as ads?
Most benefit from both. Ads bring patients quickly and can be switched on for specific treatments. A well-structured website and Google Business Profile build visibility that doesn’t stop when spending does. The balance depends on how competitive your area is and how quickly you need patients.
Should a dental group run one campaign or one per clinic?
Usually one per clinic, or at least separate budgets and targeting per clinic. Each site has its own catchment, capacity and treatment mix, and separate campaigns let you see which clinics are growing and where the next pound should go.
Do we keep our ad accounts if we change agency?
You should. Ask for ad accounts, pixels, CRM data and websites to be set up in the practice’s name, with the agency given access. Then changing agency never means starting again.
What should be on a dental landing page?
One treatment per page, a clear headline, the clinician, what the treatment can and can’t do, honest pricing and finance, what happens at the consultation, reviews, a simple form with qualifying questions, and the practice information the GDC expects.
Can SmilePreview be used in ads?
SmilePreview works best on the landing page behind cosmetic campaigns. Patients click an ad, try the preview, and leave their details to discuss the result. That gives curious visitors a reason to engage rather than leave after checking the price.
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