Dental Practices Can’t Afford to Ignore Reviews, Literally

This article originally appeared in September/2025 on DentistryToday.com.

Online reviews are a goldmine of free marketing, yet most dental practices take them for granted. Yes, having a 5-star rating on Google and Facebook is an excellent goal. You want to show your pool of potential patients that your practice is the best. However, as some of the most recent data show, that star rating may not be as important as another factor: responses. Businesses that respond to their customers’ reviews win on all fronts.

Pay Attention to Patients In Person & Online

We know that the practices we partner with care about their patients. They go out of their way to provide the best customer service. However, one area in which many of them need assistance is online reviews. They have no problem getting them. The issue is how they’re leveraging them. To maximize the benefits of its online reviews, a dental practice needs to do more than simply collect and showcase them on social media or the homepage. They need to read their reviews and respond to them.

According to a 2025 survey conducted by BrightLocal, nearly 90% of consumers expect business owners to respond to all online reviews—whether positive, negative, or neutral—and more than 60% expect a brand to respond to a negative review within seven days. The survey also reveals that more than half of consumers won’t use a business that ignores reviews. Plus, as LocaliQ reports, people spend 50% more with businesses that respond to reviews.

Reputation Management

The concept of reputation management should be familiar to most dental practice owners. After all, the practice’s reputation extends to everything—tangible and intangible. It’s part of the marketing process, encompassing customer service, online presence, and, of course, reviews.

We’ve said it before: a dental practice’s online reputation can make or break it. Patients are increasingly relying on what they read and see on the internet to make their healthcare decisions. After decades in digital marketing, we know that a practice’s online reputation is a significant factor in a patient’s decision-making process—and reviews make up a large portion of that reputation.

Respond to Every Review

Given the statistics, there are plenty of reasons for dental practices to make a habit of responding to the reviews they receive. This may seem like a daunting task, but with an organized approach, it should be manageable. Unless your practice receives an inordinately large number of reviews each day, responding to every review within a few days is a reasonable task. We recommend the following guidelines:

• Designate time every week or every day (depending on staffing capacity and volume of reviews) to respond to reviews.
• Assign one or two people to be responsible for writing review responses.
  Note: Patients are more impressed when the doctor responds to reviews.
• Read each review more than once before responding to be sure the response touches on the main points (especially important for not-so-positive reviews).
• Have a clear outcome in mind before responding to any review.
• Write responses that are brief yet heartfelt.

Positives & Negatives

Responding appropriately is essential, especially if the review contains a complaint or has a more neutral tone. Each patient review is valuable, regardless of the content, and each is an opportunity to foster trust in the practice.

While many people presume that responding to negative reviews is optional, the numbers tell a different story. A complaint should not be left to languish without a response, as to some patients, a non-response is worse than the negative review itself. On the other hand, an offer to discuss the patient’s grievances offline shows that the practice takes complaints seriously and cares about how patients feel—regardless of whether the review is exaggerated or simply unflattering.

It is worth it to offer an olive branch to any patient who expresses dissatisfaction online. The best-case scenario is that the patient gives your practice another chance and the relationship is repaired. The worst-case scenario is that the patient does not return, but your practice’s reputation is not harmed because you crafted a sincere response, addressed any concerns, recognized the patient’s unhappiness, and offered a solution. Anyone who reads the review and response will see that.

Responding to positive reviews is just as important as responding to the negative ones. While it may seem repetitive to continually write “Thank you” in response to every positive review that comes across, every time you do, it strengthens your practice’s online reputation. For every review response you post on behalf of your practice, you demonstrate that real humans who genuinely care about their patients work there.

Take Opportunities When They Come

If your practice is already receiving online reviews regularly, you are sitting on a golden opportunity to enhance its online reputation. Just as part of your team’s job is to ask for reviews every day, so should it also be to respond to them. Think of it as one more thread that helps tie your entire marketing strategy together in an effort to gain the trust of your patients and grow your practice.