Reviews for Dental Practices: A Practical Guide

By the Expert Reputation team · Updated October 26, 2026

Dental patients check reviews before they book, and they read them on more than one site. To manage a dental practice's reviews well, you need to know where patients post, what the ADA Code and HIPAA allow you to say back, and how to ask for reviews without breaking any platform's rules. This guide covers each in turn, for practice owners and office managers.

Which review sites matter for dentists

Start with the sites where patients actually find and book dentists:

• Google. Your Google Business Profile shows up in Maps and local search, and its reviews sit next to your phone number and directions. For most practices it is the profile that gets the most views. See our Google reviews guide.
• Yelp. Yelp lists dental offices, but it plays by different rules. It recommends some reviews and filters others, and it tells businesses not to ask for reviews at all. See our Yelp guide.
• Healthgrades. Healthgrades runs a dentist directory with ratings and written reviews on individual dentist profiles. Dentists can reply through Healthgrades Pro, and Healthgrades checks each reply before posting it. See our Healthgrades guide.
• Zocdoc. Zocdoc lets patients search for dentists by insurance and book online. Its provider help center says patients who booked through Zocdoc, your Google Business Profile, or your Booking Link can leave a review once you mark the appointment as attended. See our Zocdoc guide for how disputes work.
• Facebook and insurer directories. These matter less for most practices, but check them every few months for profiles you didn't create.

The point isn't to be everywhere at once. Claim the profiles that exist, keep your name, address, phone, and hours the same on all of them, and keep your effort on the two or three where patients review you most.

What the ADA Code says about advertising and testimonials

Many dentists assume the ADA bans patient testimonials. It doesn't. The 2026 edition of the ADA Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct (advisory opinions revised to October 2025) never uses the word "testimonial." What it does say applies to any review you republish or promote:

• Section 5.F (Advertising): "Although any dentist may advertise, no dentist shall advertise or solicit patients in any form of communication, including via social media, in a manner that is false or misleading in any material respect."
• Advisory opinion 5.F.2: dentists should avoid statements that would "be intended or be likely to create an unjustified expectation about results the dentist can achieve," or that claim superiority without "reasonable substantiation." It adds that opinion statements can be misleading if a patient reasonably reads them as implied statements of fact.
• Advisory opinion 5.F.6: your website and any SEO work must be "truthful" and must not present information in a false or misleading way.
• Advisory opinion 5.F.7: anyone endorsing a product or service on social media "must disclose any paid partnerships."
• Advisory opinion 4.E.1: if a patient or influencer is paid "a specific amount or percentage of professional fees collected" for marketing, that is fee splitting. Pay a flat fee, or nothing, never a share of fees.

So a glowing review that says "Dr. Lee fixed my smile in one visit, painlessly" is fine for the patient to post. But if your practice puts it on a billboard, you are now the one making that claim. Ask whether it could create an "unjustified expectation" for the next patient.

Section 1.B also obliges dentists to "safeguard the confidentiality of patient records." State dental boards may have their own advertising rules on top of the ADA Code, so check your state board's rules too.

Billing and insurance complaints: how to reply HIPAA-safely

Billing complaints are some of the hardest dental reviews to answer. They show up often: a surprise balance, a claim the insurer denied, a treatment plan that cost more than the patient expected. The temptation is to set the record straight: "Your plan only covers two cleanings a year, which we explained." Don't.

Insurance coverage, balances, and what was billed are payment information about a patient. HIPAA's protections cover that as much as clinical details. Even confirming that the reviewer is your patient can be a disclosure. HHS has settled with dental practices over exactly this:

• Elite Dental Associates (Dallas, 2019). The practice paid $10,000. HHS found it had disclosed patients' protected health information in replies on its Yelp page, including one patient's last name and details of their condition. "Social media is not the place for providers to discuss a patient's care," the OCR director said.
• New Vision Dental (California, 2022). The practice paid $23,000 and agreed to a corrective action plan after disclosing patient information in replies to online reviews.

Read more in HIPAA and online reviews.

What a safe reply to a billing complaint looks like

Speak about your policies in general terms. Don't mention the person, their plan, or their bill. Then take it offline:

Thank you for taking the time to share this. We know that costs and insurance can be confusing and frustrating. We explain estimates before any treatment we provide, and our billing team is happy to go through any statement in detail. Please call our office manager at [Phone] so we can look into this privately. — [Name], [Practice Name]

For a review that's unfair but not about money:

We're sorry to read this. We take every concern seriously, and privacy rules keep us from discussing anyone's care online. Please contact [Name] at [Phone] so we can talk directly. — [Practice Name]

Neither reply says "your visit," "your plan," or "when you came in." For more, see our HIPAA-safe review reply templates.

Fix the cause, not just the review

If billing reviews keep coming, look at when patients first hear a cost. A written estimate before treatment, an explanation of what "pending insurance" means, and a named person to call about a statement will often do more than any reply. When a review is fake or breaks a site's rules, you can report it. No one can guarantee removal, though; see negative reviews in healthcare.

Multi-dentist practices: practice profile vs. individual dentists

Group practices often end up with a mess of profiles: one for the practice, one for each dentist, and old ones for associates who left years ago. Google's Business Profile guidelines set the rules:

• Individual practitioners may have their own profile if they "operate in a public-facing role" and "can be contacted directly at the verified location during stated hours." Hygienists and front-desk staff in support roles don't qualify. One practitioner shouldn't have several profiles for different specialties.
• Multiple dentists at one location: "The organization should create a Business Profile for this location, separate from that of the practitioner." Each dentist's profile name should "include only the name of the practitioner," not the practice name.
• A solo dentist at a branded practice should share one profile with the practice, named in the format "[brand/company]: [practitioner name]."

Healthgrades and Zocdoc organize reviews around individual providers. That means an associate's reviews follow them on those sites. When a dentist leaves, update or close their profile rather than letting patients book someone who isn't there.

On Google, think about where you want reviews to land. Most practices point review requests at the location profile, so the reviews stay with the practice when staff change. Some practices also let patients review a specific dentist. Either works, as long as you ask every patient the same way.

When to ask: checkout and hygiene recall

Dentistry has two natural moments to ask: at checkout, and at the six-month hygiene recall, when a returning patient has a reason to think well of you. You can ask in both places, within each platform's rules:

• Ask every patient, not just the happy ones. Google's policy says businesses may not "selectively solicit positive reviews from customers." The FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule (16 CFR Part 465) also bans incentives tied to positive (or negative) reviews, and bans review suppression.
• Ask, don't pressure. Google says businesses "should not require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises." A card at the front desk or a text after the visit is fine. Handing someone a tablet and waiting while they type is not.
• No rewards. No whitening discount, raffle entry, or gift card for a review. Google removes incentivized reviews.
• Don't ask staff or family. Google treats current or former employees' reviews as a conflict of interest. Under 16 CFR 465.5, reviews by your own officers or managers are a violation.
• Leave Yelp alone. Yelp's support center says: "Don't ask anyone to review your business, be it customers, mailing list subscribers, friends, family, etc."

A short text with a direct Google review link, sent the same day as the visit, is the simplest system. If you'd rather not send these by hand, Review IQ sends a request to every patient after their visit. Our guide on how to get patient reviews covers timing and wording.

Using reviews on your dental website

Posting a patient's review on your own website or social media is different from the patient posting it on Google. Now your practice is publishing it, and your practice knows the reviewer is a patient.

• Get a signed HIPAA authorization. Under 45 CFR 164.508(a)(3), a covered entity "must obtain an authorization for any use or disclosure of protected health information for marketing." Using a patient's name and words to promote your services is marketing. Before you publish, get a written authorization that says what you'll use and where.
• Don't change the meaning. Trimming for length is normal. Editing a review so it says something the patient didn't say is not. Under the FTC's Endorsement Guides (16 CFR 255.2(d)), businesses publishing or editing reviews "should not take actions that have the effect of distorting or otherwise misrepresenting what consumers think."
• Results claims need support. If a testimonial describes a result, such as "my implants look completely natural" or "no pain at all," the FTC Guides (16 CFR 255.2(b)) say readers will take it as typical. You need evidence that it is, or a clear disclosure of what patients can generally expect. That lines up with ADA advisory opinion 5.F.2.
• Disclose connections. If the person got free or discounted treatment, or is a staff member's relative, disclose it clearly (16 CFR 255.5).

Store authorizations with the patient record, and take a testimonial down if the patient revokes their authorization.