The Surprising Way Millennials & Gen Z are Using Social Media

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

As a digital marketing specialist, part of my job is to help dental practices capitalize on current and future trends. Right now, we are witnessing a major shift in online behavior, and it spells opportunity for dentists seeking to grow their practices.

What’s Happening on Social Media?

In 2025, the internet is often our primary and sometimes sole source for healthcare information. However, while Baby Boomers and Gen X are Googling “dentist near me” and “how much do braces cost,” younger generations are replacing the traditional search engine with social media. Currently, about a quarter of Millennials and Gen Z start their healthcare information search on social media and use what they discover to find providers who cater to their needs.

Don’t Sleep on the Youngsters

It’s time to dispel the notion that Gen Z and Millennials are not old enough or don’t have enough disposable income to be included in your digital marketing strategy. Millennials range in age from 29 to 44, and the oldest Gen Zers have been in the workforce for nearly a decade. Combined, the two generations make up nearly half the global population, with Gen Z being the largest generation in history. Gen Z is also projected to become the wealthiest generation ever.

In general, Millennials spend more on health and wellness than their predecessors, and Gen Z is following in their footsteps. Both generations value personalized, holistic care, with an emphasis on the patient experience, price transparency, ethical practices, and sustainability when making healthcare choices. Most of all, they are willing to spend a significant portion of their income on services that will help them achieve their health and wellness goals.

Millennial & Gen Z Patients

The biggest differentiator in how Millennials and Gen Z find their healthcare providers is social media. Rather than turning to Google, they search for topics that interest them on their favorite platforms, namely Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and Reddit. As a result, they tend to place more trust in brands with a strong presence on these platforms.

What does this mean for dental practices? Dentists who want to capture the enormous and growing spending power of this huge demographic need to be on social media, making content that speaks directly to their desires.

How to Captivate the Younger Generations

Typical before-and-after shots and patient testimonials aren’t enough to motivate Millennials and Gen Z to book an appointment at your practice. If you’re hoping to attract younger patients, you must diversify your content to satisfy their obsession with health and wellness trends, including:

• Educational shorts
• Q&As
• Tips
• Explainers
• Micro content

The goal is to meet these younger patients where they spend most of their time: scrolling through social media.

This new approach to searching for healthcare information is expected to become more commonplace as Gen Z ages and its spending power increases. Additionally, social media content increasingly features in Google search results. Therefore, dentists who implement a robust social media strategy with Millennials and Gen Z in mind will not only benefit from appearing on For You pages but also increase their visibility in organic searches.

Get in on the Ground Floor

Millennials and Gen Z will soon surpass Gen X and Baby Boomers in spending on health and wellness. To secure the future of your practice, start marketing to the younger generations now. Millennials are well established in their careers and family lives. They prioritize their physical and mental health more than their parents did (and are teaching their Gen Alpha children to do the same). Gen Z’s sheer size means it is poised to become a major economic influence. And, because Gen Z lives online, its members have a tremendous influence on health and wellness trends.

Build Your Brand on Social Media

Dental practices can earn the trust of the younger generations and capitalize on their insatiable appetite for health and wellness content by using their social media channels to:

• Demonstrate the link between oral hygiene, systemic health, and overall well-being
• Promote high-value cosmetic procedures, including facial aesthetics and laser treatments
• Raise awareness about common oral health issues, prevention, and treatment
• Explain the health and aesthetic benefits of quality dental care
• Rate the effectiveness of trending dental care products
• Give tutorials on proper oral hygiene, clear aligners, and whitening
• Recommend the products and procedures with the biggest bang for the buck

The Future Is in Your Hands

While many dentists have social media accounts, few of them are on Instagram creating content for 25- to 40-year-olds at this time. A forward-thinking dentist will implement a marketing strategy to target Gen Z and Millennials now, establishing their brand as a trustworthy source of information. As others get wise to this social media search behavior, it will only become more challenging to win the hearts and minds of younger generations. Dentists who start appealing to Gen Z and Millennials today are setting the stage for their future success.