10 Dental Review Sites Your Patients Visit

Learn about dental review sites that your prospective patients rely on for reviews, ratings and recommendations of dentists in their local area

Patients are typically selective about their choice of a new dentist. Your dental practice’s online reviews can ease your prospective patients’ concerns and encourage them to visit your practice. These reviews are essential to building a positive online reputation for your practice. As such, it is important to know the dental review sites that your prospective patients rely on as they decide on a new dentist. 

Online reviews help dental practices rank higher on Google’s search engine result pages (SERPs) and generate more leads. You must have a system in place that encourages your current patients to share their reviews on the dental review sites that your prospective patients will likely visit. With Connect The Doc, dentists can automatically gather authentic reviews from their patients and publish them where they matter. 

In this article, we will discuss 10 dental review sites that your prospective patients visit. Over the years, these review sites have become a key source of information about dentists. By reading reviews and ratings on these sites, patients can make informed decisions about their choice of a dentist. 

Here are the 10 dental review sites your patients visit:

1. Yelp 
2. Healthgrades
3. ZocDoc
4. 1-800-Dentist
5. RateMDs
6. OpenCare
7. CareDash
8. Vitals
9. Dentistry.com
10. GoogleMyBusiness

1. Yelp

With an average of 178 million visitors per month, Yelp is one of the most popular review sites in the world. Although it mostly includes reviews for restaurants, home services, auto services and other business types, it is a great review site for dentists. Many patients, who already read Yelp reviews for different service providers, rely on Yelp for their dentist reviews, ratings and recommendations. 

With a Yelp Business page, you can manage your dental practice’ listing on Yelp and respond to reviews. You can engage with your prospective patients and direct them to your dental website for more information about your dental practice. 

2. Healthgrades

Unlike Yelp, Healthgrades showcases reviews and ratings of professionals and organizations in the health industry. With more than 3 million health care providers currently listed on Healthgrades, it is the leading source of information about healthcare providers. Several patients visit Healthgrades to learn more about their dentists, physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers. 

As a dentist, you can claim and update your dental practice’s free profile on Healthgrades. You can also promote your practice on Healthgrades through the site’s advertisement program so more patients can read your reviews. This review site also provides solutions for encouraging your patients to schedule an appointment with you after they read your dental practice’s reviews. 

3. ZocDoc

ZocDoc doubles as a review site and an online scheduling tool for healthcare providers. With ZocDoc, patients can find dentists in their local area, read their reviews and ratings, schedule an appointment, and meet with their dentist virtually. The review site suggests dentists to patients based on their insurance carrier and coverage. This is why more than 5 million patients, across the United States, use ZocDoc every month. 

Dentists can list their dental practice on ZocDoc to manage their listing, update their availability and meet their patients virtually. ZocDoc ranks dentists based on their proximity to patients, specialties, treatments and insurance policy. This makes it easier for you to match with prospective patients who are more likely to schedule an appointment with you. 

4. 1-800-Dentist

1-800-Dentist provides custom recommendations of dentists to patients based on key compatibility factors. Patients who visit the review site answer a few questions about their location, dental care, insurance amongst others. 1-800-Dentist’s search algorithm uses patients’ information to match patients with dentists in their local area. Once a match has been made, a referral specialist calls patients and informs them about their options. 

1-800-Dentist has matched more than 11 million patients with dentists. With 1-800-Dentist, patients can schedule same-day appointments and get 24/7 emergency support. After their dental appointments, patients are encouraged to leave reviews about their experience with the dentist. These reviews help 1-800-Dentist to improve their criteria and system for matching patients with dentists. 

5. RateMDs

RateMDs connects patients to dentists, physicians and other healthcare professionals by providing them with information, reviews and ratings on several aspects of healthcare professionals’ expertise and practice—such as punctuality, overall knowledge, staff, helpfulness, cleanliness etc. It allows patients to locate dentists in their local area and read other patients’ reviews. In addition to their location, dentists are also ranked according to their specialty. 

Dentists can claim their profiles on RateMDs and update them with pictures and contact details to boost their online visibility. The site allows dentists to manage their reviews by responding to them, requesting that unfair and fake reviews be removed or outsourcing the management of their profiles to online reputation managers. RateMDs ranks high on Google’s SERPs and as such, it is a very popular review site amongst patients. 

6. Opencare

Like ZocDoc, Opencare allows patients to find and schedule appointments with dentists. After answering a short quiz, patients are shown a list of dentists in their local area who specialize in the treatments and procedures that the patients need. The premium review site also provides patients with content and information that helps them improve their overall oral wellbeing. 

Unlike a number of the review sites mentioned in this article, Opencare focuses exclusively on the dental industry. To maximize patients’ experience, dentists are vetted and approved before they can be listed on the Opencare. Dentists with a track record of positive online reviews, reputation and business practices have a good chance of being listed. 

7. CareDash

CareDash is one of the fastest-growing healthcare search directories. The review site allows patients to find and compare dentists, physicians and other healthcare professionals in their local area. Over 2 million patients visit CareDash every month. These patients can read other patients’ reviews, leave their reviews about their dentists, and enjoy a host of healthcare-related resources.

CareDash uses proprietary technology to detect and remove fake reviews. This allows more than 3 million active healthcare providers on the platform to benefit from verified reviews. Dentists can claim and manage their free CareDash profiles. When you claim your profile, it becomes verified and this signals to your prospective patients that your information is updated and trustworthy. 

8. Vitals

Vitals is a leading resource for healthcare reviews, ratings and information. With over 9 million reviews and ratings, this robust review site is one of the largest online databases of healthcare professionals. Patients who visit the review site can search for dentists by name, location, specialty, insurance, years of experience, ratings and virtual appointments.

More than 1 million healthcare professionals and 165,000 healthcare organizations are listed on Vitals. Dentists can claim their Vitals profile and update details about their expertise, specialty, practice, education and awards. The review site allows dentists to report fake reviews and request their deletion. 

9. Dentistry.com

Marketed as the digital home of dentistry, Dentistry.com provides extensive resources for patients who are looking to improve their dental healthcare and find dentists in their neighbourhood. In addition to reading reviews and ratings, patients can learn about dentists’ practice, education, awards, the procedures dentists specialize in, the insurance coverages or policies they accept, and request an appointment with the dentist of their choice. 

Dentists can claim their dental practice’s profile on Dentistry.com. To do so, dentists have to create an account on the website. Dentistry.com has a community forum that allows dentists to connect and engage with dental professionals. 

10. GoogleMyBusiness

GoogleMyBusiness is a free Google service that allows patients to learn more about dentists and other local business owners. A typical GoogleMyBusiness listing contains the business’ contact details, media, hours of availability, reviews, ratings and links to the business’ website. This listing appears right at the top of Google’s SERPs and makes it easier for patients to find information about the dentist or local business they are searching for.

To claim your GoogleMyBusiness profile, you can start by searching for dental practice on Google. If Google currently has some information about your dental practice, you will be able to modify the knowledge panel of your dental practice by clicking ‘Own this business?’. If no information exists about your dental practice online, you can visit GoogleMyBusiness’ website or contact a Connect The Doc specialist to help you improve your dental practice’s online presence. 

Patients visit social media platforms for dental reviews

In addition to these commonly-viewed dental review sites, patients also rely on social media for reviews and recommendations about dentists and dental practices. If your dental practice has social media pages, you should make sure your pages include important updates and contact details. As a rule of thumb, you should develop an online reputation management strategy that guides you and your team members on how to manage your online presence and reviews across different review sites. More so, when responding to online reviews, you should always adhere to the regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

Start gathering and sharing authentic reviews about your dental practice

The more online reviews there are about your dental practice, the better your online visibility and chances of attracting more patients to your practice. If your dental practice has none or just a few online reviews, contact a Connect The Doc specialist today. With Connect The Doc’s review tool, dentists automatically ask their patients for reviews and ensure those reviews are published on the dental review sites their prospective patients visit. Contact us to start gathering and sharing authentic reviews about your dental practice.