Top Dental Practice Trends to Follow
New year, new goals, new dental practice trends. We see recent trends emerging from every industry with each flip of the calendar year. As a dental practice owner, you want to ensure you’re on top of these trends to maintain relevance in your industry.
It’s been proven time and again that businesses that can adapt are the ones that outperform their competitors. By adapting to new trends, you can serve your clients more efficiently and improve their overall experience with your dental practice.
Let’s discuss the top dental practice trends you should follow to stay competitive and ensure practice growth in 2022.
1. Reinforce the trust factor
One of the main reasons people avoid dentists is the lack of information regarding dentistry. Many misconceptions surround dental treatments, clouding people’s judgment and hindering them from seeing a dentist. That’s why dental practices must share relevant and accurate information to reinforce the trust factor and encourage patients to visit them.
Well-written blog posts, informative video content, and accurate FAQ pages are some of the best ways to demonstrate your expertise in dentistry. By creating content that educates your clients, you can establish trustworthiness and eliminate the potential fears they may have. Acquiring trust is one thing, but maintaining it is crucial for patient retention and acquisition.
2. Convenience is a must-have
With the way things are due to the pandemic, the value of convenience has never been higher. Patients want dental services to be accessible more than before, and the same goes for payment methods and scheduling. That’s why convenience is a big trend in 2022 that dental practice should closely observe.
One example is setting an online portal for patients to ask questions and book appointments. By doing this, you can communicate more effectively with your patients. Another example is to offer flexible payment options to mitigate financial fear.
The more convenient options you provide, the more likely your patients will use them to their advantage. It’s a win-win for both parties as you benefit from increased appointments and the patients benefit from the added convenience.
3. Embracing 3D printing technology
The automotive, construction and manufacturing industries have embraced 3D printing technologies to streamline their operations, and it appears that the dental industry will follow suit. While 3D printing is nothing new, it’s a process that has yet to be fully absorbed by dental practices around the globe. Dentists can easily create custom crowns, dentures, and impressions thanks to improved accuracy and better material quality.
The shorter turnaround time can lead to increased patient satisfaction. 2021 was the year of 3D printing in the dental industry, and experts believe that the market for dental 3D printing will balloon to 12.8 billion dollars in 2028. If you haven’t invested in a 3D printing machine, now is the perfect time to do so as it’ll improve critical facets of your dental practice.
4. Use stories on social media
Social media stories began on Snapchat, and since then, almost all social media platforms have used them. Facebook, Twitter, and even YouTube have stories where you can share bite-sized content and keep your audience engaged. For dentists, utilizing stories is a great way to humanize your brand and educate your viewers with short clips.
You can also use social media stories to keep patients updated with your practice, show some dentistry work, and promote new technologies. Creators can utilize each platform to share different stories. For example, you can use Instagram stories to share promotional content and YouTube stories for educational clips.
5. Online review management
Online reviews are critical to the success of any business. When working in the dental industry, you want to ensure that patient satisfaction is your number one priority. A happy customer will likely recommend your services to other people and leave a 5-star rating on your practice. If you’re not tracking your online reviews, check them now and see what your patients have to say about your work.
While your focus should be to earn positive reviews, you can’t ignore the negative feedback that comes your way. When you respond to negative reviews and address them, people will feel that you care about your patients. Managing your online reviews is a great way to build brand reputation and reinforce the trust factor previously mentioned.
6. Take advantage of influencer marketing
Influencer marketing has taken the social media world by storm, and it’s a trend that dental practices should strongly consider. Attracting new patients is always a challenge for dentists, which is why you need to diversify your marketing tactics to stay on top of your patient’s minds.
Influencer marketing is a straightforward concept; you reach out to an influencer with a large following, ask them to promote your products/services and reward them with compensation. Influencer marketing works because the creators can easily tap into the target market you’d like to reach.
Make sure to choose the right influencer that shares the same values and vision with your brand. Don’t just base on follower count and think about whether the person is suited to promote your products/services.
7. Eco-friendly dental products
As the population learns more about environmental changes, they’re becoming increasingly aware of the products they use. Going green isn’t exactly a new trend, but it’s a trend that’s becoming more important for patients in the dental industry. As such, you want to incorporate a couple of eco-friendly dental products into your arsenal for this purpose.
Stocking organic oral care products is one way to win over the environmentally conscious. In terms of your dental practice, you can use eco-friendly sterilizers and eliminate the use of aerosols in the office. These small changes can make a significant impact in the eyes of patients who want to practice a sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle.
8. Incorporate AI chatbots
While many experts believe that artificial intelligence is still in its infancy, there’s no denying its impact on the dental industry. AI chatbots are one example of simulating human conversations and interacting with patients using natural language. By incorporating AI chatbots into your dental practice, you can assist patients with their needs, set appointments and schedules automatically, and improve your communication efforts significantly.
You can utilize chatbots in many ways. For example, you can use chatbots on Facebook to provide patient support. You can also use chatbots to filter through information and get answers quickly on your website. As we welcome 2022, chatbots are undoubtedly a worthy addition to your website and social media pages.
9. Voice search optimization
While the dental industry quickly adopts emerging technologies, they somewhat fall behind in the digital aspect. One digital trend that’s worth watching is the rise of voice search. Dental practices need to optimize for voice search as it allows them to stay ahead of their competitors and become visible to their patients.
With so many people owning smart speakers nowadays, the convenience of search voice has eliminated the need for physical typing. To optimize your website for voice search, you need to use conversational language and long-tail keywords. It also helps optimize your website for mobile friendliness, impacting your ranking on search engine results pages.
Think about the most common questions people ask when searching for dental work and optimize your website and its contents around that. That way, you can deliver the correct answers and direct people to your website.
10. Laser technology
The introduction of laser technology in dentistry is perhaps one of the most exciting trends to follow. Traditional dental care involves invasive techniques that often leave patients afraid and in pain during procedures. But thanks to laser technology, dentists can eliminate cavities with little to no discomfort.
Laser technology is also beneficial for oral surgery as it reduces the need for sutures and promotes faster healing than invasive oral surgeries. Experts believe that the growth of laser technology will rise exponentially to a point where nearly all dental practices will use them in the next decade.
The thought of painless dental treatments is a dream for many patients. If you’re one of many dental practices that utilize laser technology, make sure to include it as part of your marketing strategy. That way, you can attract new clients and introduce them to laser technology’s benefits.
In summary
The dental industry is poised for growth in 2022. As a dental practice owner, your job is to put your business in the best place to succeed, and one way to achieve that is by following dental practice trends. At the end of the day, trends will come and go. The most important part is the patient experience and how you can elevate this above your competitor’s standards.
Keep an eye on these top trends, and your dental practice will see new patients in no time.
As a dental practice owner, monitoring the financial health of your business is key to profitability. With accurate bookkeeping, you can measure the overall performance of your dental practice. Feel free to fill out the form below for professional bookkeeping services, and our team will reach out to you shortly.
