On this page
For a dental clinic, reviews do two jobs at once: they are the main thing a prospective patient reads before choosing, and they are one of the strongest signals in local search results.
Most clinics have far fewer than they have earned, for one reason: nobody asks.
Ask at the right moment
The moment matters more than the wording.
Ask immediately after a good outcome, in person, before the patient leaves. A patient who has just been relieved of pain, or has just seen a result they like in the mirror, is at their most willing. The same patient asked by email four days later has moved on.
Do not ask after a first consultation where nothing was treated, after a difficult extraction, or when a patient has just received a large treatment estimate. In each case you are asking someone who has not yet experienced the thing you want reviewed.
Ask in person, follow up by message
The reliable sequence is two steps:
- In person: "If you were happy with today, a short review would really help us. Would it be alright if I send you the link?"
- By message, within the hour: a one-line message with the direct link.
Asking permission first is what makes the second step land. An unrequested link is marketing; a promised one is a favour someone agreed to do.
Send the link while the patient is still nearby or on their way home. Response rates fall sharply after the same day.
The wording
Short, specific, and no script:
Thank you for coming in today, {name}. If you have a minute, a review helps other people find us: {link}
Do not ask for five stars. Do not tell them what to write. Both are visible in the resulting reviews, and a page of identical five-star reviews reads as fake to patients and to the platforms.
Make the link one tap
Most review requests fail here. If the patient has to find your clinic on a map, scroll, and locate a button, they will not.
Use your Google Business Profile's direct review link, sent as a tappable link in the message. Test it on a phone you are not logged in on.
Who to ask
Ask everyone who had a good visit, not only the enthusiastic ones. If you only ask people who are visibly delighted, you get a small number of extreme reviews. If you ask everyone, you get a larger number of ordinary, credible ones — which convert better.
Spread requests over time. Twenty reviews arriving in one week looks exactly like what it is, and platforms notice.
What never to do
- Never offer anything in exchange. Not a discount, not a free hygiene visit, not a prize draw. This violates the terms of every major platform, and reviews can be removed and the profile penalised.
- Never filter. Asking only satisfied patients to review publicly, while diverting unhappy ones to a private form, is prohibited by Google and is the practice most likely to get a profile actioned.
- Never write them yourself, or ask staff or family to.
Responding to a bad review
Respond to every one, publicly, within a couple of days.
Keep it short, do not argue, do not mention any clinical detail — confidentiality applies in public even when the patient has disclosed things themselves. Something like: "Thank you for telling us. We would like to understand what happened — please contact us at {phone}."
The response is not for the reviewer. It is for the next hundred people reading, who are judging how you handle a complaint far more than they are judging the complaint.
One negative review among thirty positive ones makes the set look real. A perfect record looks purchased.
Track it
Count reviews received per month and note which staff member asked. The difference between team members is usually large, and it is usually about remembering to ask, not about charm.