by Dr. Leon Klempner
Online reviews have shifted from a passive indicator of performance to a proactive growth lever for orthodontic practices. Today’s parents are researching orthodontic providers online and reading reviews before they even consider making a call. If a competing practice has significantly more positive reviews, that advantage can be challenging to overcome, regardless of clinical quality.
There has been a big change in the way Google ranks practices. The traditional SEO strategies need to be updated. Reviews aren’t just digital testimonials, they’re now one of the most influential drivers of new patient acquisition, and a significant factor in how your practice ranks in a local search, especially with changes in the way Google’s AI, known as Gemini, consumes and uses data about your business profile. Artificial intelligence is amplifying the stakes. These tools summarize review content to answer queries like “best orthodontist near me.” Your reviews are no longer static; they’re being interpreted by algorithms that shape your reputation before a parent even visits your website.
According to Medical Economics, 94% of patients consult online reviews when evaluating a healthcare provider. A separate study from Repugen found that 72% will only consider providers with four stars or more. Reputation management is a must-have component of any modern orthodontic marketing strategy. Yet many practices continue to struggle to get reviews. Why?
The truth is, only 5 to 10% of satisfied patients leave a review unprompted. Relying on your front-desk team to ask for them, especially at the end of a busy appointment, leads to inconsistent results. Generic follow-up messages often miss the right moment or lack personalization, thus inadvertently increasing the chance of negative feedback being aired publicly.
Nearly half of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 40% expect to see at least 100 reviews before feeling confident in their choice. That volume threshold can make or break visibility, especially as Google weighs review recency, frequency, and sentiment in determining rankings.
That’s where a reputation management program–like PatientCue®, which I developed for my own practice, can make a huge impact. Built to connect with practice management reminder systems, it automates review requests based on real-time visit data and delivers prompts while a patient’s experience is still top of mind, significantly boosting the number of reviews.
But automation alone isn’t enough. It’s important to have a feedback layer, where all comments solicited directly from patients are routed privately to the team, giving them a chance to touch base on any particularly great visit or address issues before they are aired out in public. At People + Practice, which I co-founded to help fellow orthodontists better market their practices, we also set our program apart by incorporating AI-powered sentiment analysis, which summarizes main themes, keywords, and tone from hundreds of reviews. This gives practices a real-time view into what patients value most and allows for a quick understanding as to where your practice might need to make improvements to draw and convert more patients.
This kind of optimization drives “review efficiency,” the conversion percentage rate of private feedback into public-facing reviews. Most practices average the low single digits. Our users report over 31% on average, with top performers reaching 80% during targeted pushes. That boost in review volume and quality translates directly into higher search rankings, more web traffic, and more patient starts. The research bears this out.
Don’t hesitate to ask. We recommend requesting feedback within an hour of every appointment, while the experience is still fresh. You never know whether someone had a fantastic visit or a less-than-ideal one, and it’s important to hear about both. Worried about overasking? Don’t be. We’ve sent hundreds of thousands of feedback requests over the past 12+ years on behalf of our clients, and complaints are extremely rare.
The bottom line: reviews are no longer stars on a screen. They’re a dynamic, strategic asset that reflects your brand, builds trust, and drives measurable growth. With the right system in place, reviews don’t just show satisfaction, they tell a story that attracts the right patients, at the right time, for the right reasons.
Leon Klempner, DDS is CEO of People + Practice, a digital marketing consultancy exclusively for orthodontists, and the co-host of The Golden Age of Orthodontics podcast. Dr. Klempner also serves on the Executive Board of The New York State Society of Orthodontists.
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