Why 3D Printing Matters to Your Patients

Once seen as futuristic, expensive, and inaccessible, 3D printing is now in dental practices everywhere, helping dentists provide quality care faster. 3D printing is not just a clinical asset. It can also be a financial boon if you understand when to use it and how to market it correctly.

Tech Is Not a Secret

We know that dentists love their gadgets — the higher tech, the better. However, many of the dentists I encounter hesitate to talk to their patients about technology for fear of losing their interest. And yes, getting too technical is always a risk, but while you’re geeking out on a new piece of equipment or imaging program, your patients remain somewhat in the dark.

The truth is that patients want to know that when they visit your practice, they’re getting the latest and greatest for themselves and their family. The average patient, though, is not keeping up with dental technology, so it’s up to you to let them know just how far dentistry has come since they were kids with braces and headgear. So, advertise your capabilities to reassure your patients.

Benefits of 3D Printing to Patients

The benefits of 3D printing for your practice are obvious: short fabrication times, control over quality, more efficient treatments, cost control. Also, with 3D printing technology in your office, you eliminate the dental lab in many cases — a major cost savings. But have you thought about why 3D printing is a big selling point for patients?

1. Same-Day Treatments
   Treatments like crowns, aligners, or nightguards can be completed in a single visit, rather than over several weeks, ideal for busy professionals or parents and patients with anxiety. Instead of having to book multiple appointments that will disrupt their lives, they can visit once and be done.
2. Easy Appointments
   Digital scans combined with 3D printing mean no messy impressions, which also means less prep time, less waiting time, and less time in the chair. A clean, digital experience is faster and far more pleasant for patients, especially wiggly kids and anxious patients who’d rather not be there in the first place.
3. Precision Appliances & Restorations
   While you may have a dental lab you trust, there’s still nothing like having control over the process from start to finish. With 3D printing, you can make highly accurate and natural-looking restorations and appliances in your office with complete confidence in the quality of the work.

Marketing Your 3D Printing Capabilities

Whether your practice has been using 3D printing for years or just starting to explore the possibilities, it’s important to let people know about it. Marketing your technology will help you get more out of your investment by attracting high-quality patients who appreciate what modern dentistry can do.

Make sure you have all the basics covered in our marketing strategy, including:

• Information on the Practice’s Website
  Create a dedicated subpage that explains everything your practice can do with 3D printing capabilities and add a paragraph about 3D printing to the technology page if you have one. Consider using photos of 3D-printed restorations and videos of the printer in action, and explain the benefits of the technology using patient-friendly language — not tech jargon.
• Social Media
  Another way you can use photos and videos to showcase your 3D printing technology is by posting on your practice’s socials. Patients enjoy watching time-lapse videos of dental appliances being printed and behind-the-scenes clips of how they are made. In the post, you can emphasize “same-day treatments” to highlight convenience as a major benefit.
• Email
  Existing patients need to know about your technology too. Consider adding 3D printing as a topic in your email rotation. You can expand a lot more on benefits in an email and make it more personal to your patients.
• Blog Post
  This is where you can get a little more technical and let your inner nerd show. Blog posts are great for general education and SEO (search engine optimization). Keywords in your blog post will help your practice feature in search results when new patients are looking for a modern dentist.

You may love 3D printing because it’s cool, but your patients love it because it makes their treatment experience better, and that should always be the central message in any marketing you do. You’ve invested in technology that makes dental care better for your patients. Now, make sure they know it!