Keep clients coming back · Every business
The Front Door Checklist for Dental Practices
A person looking for a new dentist usually has three tabs open and one question at a time, whether you take their plan, whether you can see them soon and whether you will be gentle, so a practice's listing, website and booking page have to answer each one in the order it is asked.
At a glance
- A dental practice's front door is everything a prospective patient sees before calling: the Google listing, the website, the new-patient page, online booking and forms, and recent reviews. It has to answer insurance, availability, comfort, cost, emergencies and what happens after the first visit.
- In a JAMA survey of 2,137 U.S. adults, 59% said online ratings were somewhat or very important when choosing a physician, and in the 2025 Journal of the American Dental Association survey of 1,003 adults, 72.6% said they were afraid of going to the dentist.
- Cost stops working-age adults more than any other group: in 2023, 16.9% of adults aged 19 to 64 skipped needed dental care because of cost, according to the American Dental Association's Health Policy Institute.
- For an illustrative practice whose front door loses 4% of 150 monthly lookups, the lost new patients are worth about $61,200 in their first year.
Part 1 | Prospective patients check the practice in a fixed order
Most practice owners think of the website as a brochure, and when new-patient numbers slip the first instinct is We need to be higher on Google. The person searching usually finds several practices nearby and then eliminates them one at a time, and the first eliminations happen on questions a website can answer in a sentence: whether the practice is in network for their plan, whether it is accepting new patients and how far out the first opening is.
Ratings sit near the top of that list. The JAMA survey found that 65% of adults were aware of online rating sites for physicians and 59% considered the ratings important, and Google's guidance on local ranking states that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local results and that more reviews and positive ratings can help a business's local ranking.
The survey is more than a decade old, though newer research on local businesses in general points the same way, since BrightLocal's 2026 survey of 1,002 U.S. adults found that 74% look for reviews written in the last three months.
Part 2 | Seven questions a new patient asks, in dental terms
A useful way to check a practice's front door is to read it the way a new patient does, on a phone, in the order the questions come up, and to note where the answer is missing, buried or different between the listing and the site.
| Question the patient asks | What answers it in a dental practice | Pass if |
|---|---|---|
| Do you take my insurance? | A list of plans the practice is in network with, and what happens if it is out of network | Plans are named on the site, not "most insurance accepted" |
| What if I don't have insurance? | Self-pay prices for the new-patient exam, X-rays and cleaning, plus any in-house membership | A self-pay patient can see a starting price |
| Are you taking new patients, and how soon? | A clear yes, with online booking or a typical wait for a first visit | The first opening is visible without a call |
| Will you be gentle? | A page on comfort: what the first visit includes, numbing, sedation options if offered and how to stop the work | Comfort is answered in the patient's words |
| What if it's an emergency? | Same-day emergency policy and after-hours instructions | The policy appears on the home page and the listing |
| Can I get the paperwork done ahead? | Online forms that work on a phone, labeled and readable | Forms can be finished before arrival |
| What happens after my first visit? | How recall works, how treatment plans are explained and how billing works | The next step is written, not "we'll go over it" |
The self-pay row deserves particular care. Guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services tells consumers that providers usually must give a good faith estimate to people who don't have or use insurance when they schedule care at least three business days ahead or ask for one, and that they may be able to dispute a bill that comes in at least $400 above it; how that applies to a dental practice is a question for your compliance advisor, though a self-pay price on the website answers the patient's question before it is asked.
The forms row has a second test. The Department of Justice's guidance on web accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act names forms without labels or keyboard access, images without text alternatives, low color contrast and videos without captions as common barriers, and new-patient forms are often where a practice's site fails all four.
Part 3 | What a front door that loses a few lookups costs
| People who look up the practice each month (Assumption) | 150 |
|---|---|
| Share who leave because a question went unanswered (Assumption) | 4% |
| New patients lost per year (Calculated (150 × 4% × 12)) | 72 |
| First-year value of a new patient (exam, X-rays, two cleanings, some treatment) (Assumption) | $850 |
| First-year revenue lost (Calculated (72 × $850)) | $61,200 |
Illustrative example; replace every assumption with your own numbers.
That figure covers only the first year. A patient who stays keeps coming back for cleanings, and in early 2025 data from the National Center for Health Statistics, 66.7% of adults had a dental exam or cleaning in the past year, which means a third of adults in the practice's area have not and are the people most likely to be searching with the questions in Exhibit 2.
How you compare
- Against the nearest measured trade: in osNOVA's October 2026 audit of 68 independent Philadelphia hair salon websites, 78% showed prices or price ranges, 72% let a client book online and 26% listed hours that matched their own Google listing. A practice that passes all seven rows in Exhibit 2 is ahead of most businesses studied.
- Against your own listing: compare hours, the emergency policy and the booking link on Google with the website.
- Against the patient's questions: ask someone who has never visited to find your plan list, a self-pay price and the first opening, and time each search.
Questions to ask this week
Are our insurance plans named on the site? "Most insurance accepted" sends the patient to call or to the next practice.
Can a self-pay patient see a price? Post a starting price for the new-patient exam, X-rays and cleaning.
Can a new patient book or see the first opening without a call? If not, add online booking for new-patient visits.
Do the online forms work on a phone? Fill one out yourself on a phone tonight.
General information, not legal or compliance advice; talk to a licensed professional about your situation.
Open your Google listing and website side by side on your phone tonight, fix the first mismatch you find and add your in-network plans to the new-patient page this week.
About this research: This article draws on a JAMA survey of physician rating sites, a 2025 JADA survey of dental fear reported by ADA News, the ADA Health Policy Institute's analysis of National Health Interview Survey data, NCHS FastStats, BrightLocal's 2026 survey (run by a local search software company), Google's local ranking guidance, CMS consumer guidance on good faith estimates, the Department of Justice's web accessibility guidance and osNOVA's Front Door Audit of independent Philadelphia hair salons, which measures a different trade in one city and is a starting point, not a national benchmark for dental practices. The worked example is illustrative.
Sources
- Hanauer, D. A., Zheng, K., Singer, D. C., Gebremariam, A. and Davis, M. M. Public Awareness, Perception, and Use of Online Physician Rating Sites. JAMA 311(7), 2014. 2,137 U.S. adults.
- ADA News. September JADA Finds Dental Fear Still Prevalent in US. 2025. 1,003 U.S. adults.
- American Dental Association Health Policy Institute. National Trends in Dental Care Use, Dental Insurance Coverage, and Cost Barriers. 2024.
- National Center for Health Statistics. FastStats: Oral and Dental Health. 2025 National Health Interview Survey early release.
- BrightLocal. Local Consumer Review Survey 2026. 2026. Panel of 1,002 U.S. adults.
- Google. Tips to Improve Your Local Ranking on Google. Google Business Profile Help.
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Understanding Costs in Advance. No Surprises Act consumer guidance.
- U.S. Department of Justice. Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA. ADA.gov, March 2022.
- osNOVA. Front Door Audit, independent Philadelphia hair salons, October 2026. 68 working websites scored on nine items.
Related reading: How Dental Practices Earn New Patients' Trust Before the First Visit · Should You Show Prices on Your Website? How to Do It Without Scaring People Off · How to Check Your Own Front Door in 15 Minutes (Free Checklist) · The Front Door Checklist for Auto Repair Shops · Getting More Reviews for Dental and Medical Practices
Work with osNOVA on your practice's front door
We help dental practices read their listing, website and new-patient page the way a stranger does, then name insurance plans, post self-pay prices, open online booking and forms and write the comfort page, so more of the people who look the practice up book a first visit, starting from what you want more of, whether that is more new patients, fewer calls asking the same questions or a fuller hygiene schedule.
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