How to Handle Bad Reviews for Your Dental Practice
- Jared Allen
- May 20
- 4 min read
Updated: May 21
As your dental practice grows, managing your online reputation becomes increasingly important. Online reviews play a critical role in shaping how prospective patients perceive your practice. While positive reviews help build trust and attract new patients, occasional negative reviews are inevitable. What matters most is how you respond to those negative comments to protect and enhance your practice’s reputation.
Here are some helpful tips to effectively manage and respond to bad reviews:
1: Listen to Complaints
It is natural to be defensive when you see a negative review about your practice. After receiving a negative review, take some time before you respond. Do not respond to the review if you feel upset or angry. Step away and take some time to think before responding.
Before responding publicly on the review platform, attempt to reach out to the patient directly, if appropriate, in order to address their concerns. Listen to their story and take the opportunity to show genuine care for what elicited their negative remarks. If a resolution is reached, kindly request the patient to remove their review from Google or the platform used.
When you are unable to reach the patient or arrive at a positive resolution, use negative reviews as an opportunity to look for areas of improvement and to consider honest feedback. As you begin receiving negative reviews, you may find that some of them are unwarranted, but some might shine some light on ways to improve the patient experience.
Listen to complaints and use the following questions to review the patient’s experience:
Is our front desk staff welcoming, professional, and helpful?
Are patients experiencing long wait times?
Are appointments allowing enough time for patient care and attention?
If you notice recurring complaints, address them promptly by improving staff training, enhancing service quality, or adjusting office procedures. Once changes are implemented, consider updating your response on the review platform, thanking the reviewer for their feedback, and inviting them to return.
2: Respond to Both Positive and Negative Reviews
Responding to both negative and positive reviews demonstrates that you value patient feedback and are committed to excellent care. According to a consumer survey conducted by Brightlocal, businesses that engage with reviews tend to attract more customers.
For Negative Reviews:
Respond on the same platform where the review was left.
Respond within 48 hours .
Respectfully apologize for the patient's experience and don't be defensive or rude in your response, even if the review was unkind or unwarranted.
Be courteous and professional, as this will let other readers and prospective patients know that you always maintain a high standard of professionalism.
For Positive Reviews:
Thank patients for their kind words.
Reinforce your commitment to quality patient care.
Don’t be defensive or rude in your response, even if the review was unkind or unwarranted.
3: Let Your Patients Know That Their Reviews Matter
Ask patients to leave reviews during their visit, at checkout, or through follow-up emails. Dental hygienists, who spend significant time with patients, are often ideal for this gentle reminder.
Develop a routine for responding to all reviews. Timely replies to positive and negative feedback not only boost patient trust but also improve your practice’s SEO. Google confirms that active management of reviews enhances local search rankings, helping your practice appear higher in search results.
4: Don't Worry About a Few Bad Reviews
One or two bad reviews aren’t going to ruin your practice’s reputation. Bad reviews, in moderation, could actually help your online reputation.
How?
Generally, consumers assume that nothing is perfect, so they often view a perfect five-star rating with suspicion, assuming reviews might be fake or manipulated.
Responding to the negative review and showing that you are trying to resolve the situation shows potential patients that your practice cares about its patients and is putting effort into satisfying them. This also demonstrates that your practice cares about its reputation and is responsive.
While a prospective patient can overlook a few bad reviews, you must react and fix the situation if many of your recent reviews are one or two stars.
First, use the questions listed above to take corrective action regarding the issue people are complaining about. You may need to take the conversation offline if you are dealing with a serious complaint. After that, you can work on the perception by letting customers know about your solution and continuing to work toward gaining new, positive reviews.
Need Help Managing Your Practice’s Online Reputation?
If maintaining your online reputation feels overwhelming, consider partnering with professionals. Edify Dental Marketing provides SEO and review management services as a part of our marketing services for dentists. We can help improve your website’s organic search rankings and manage your review responses effectively.
Reach out to us for a free, no-obligation consultation to learn how we can help your dental practice grow.
Jared Allen, co-founder of Edify Dental Marketing, offers clients years of experience in practice consulting and business growth. He is dedicated to assisting dental practices in improving their efficiency, achieving greater success, and drawing in new patients.
