Dentistry is one of the hardest niches when it comes to reviews. It combines three factors that most other categories don't have: a high average bill (from 5,000 to 100,000 rubles per visit), emotional strain (fear of the dentist is extremely common) and strict regulation of medical practice. A single negative review does more damage to reputation in this niche than in any other, because the stakes are people's health rather than a passing impression.

Yet dental clinics usually handle reviews "the same way as everyone else": generic request templates, generic replies to negative reviews, attempts to remove "bad" reviews with standard methods. This doesn't work well, because the niche needs its own approach. In this article we'll look at how to handle reviews properly in dentistry specifically.

Which platforms matter most for dental clinics

Unlike restaurants or beauty salons, the number one platform for dental clinics is not Yandex Maps but specialized medical review sites. Patients don't search for "dentist near me", they search for "best implant specialist in Moscow" and go to specialized services. Here is the full priority list.

1. ProDoctorov.ru

Russia's main medical review platform, with a monthly audience of more than 30 million. It is critically important for dental clinics, because many patients choose a specific doctor rather than a clinic. Doctor profiles here have their own ratings and review history, and that is often the deciding factor.

A key feature: on ProDoctorov, reviews are mostly written about a specific doctor, not the clinic. This means reputation work has to happen on two levels: the clinic's overall rating and each doctor's individual rating. If the clinic has a 4.7 but its lead prosthodontist has a 3.9, that still scares patients away.

2. SberHealth

A growing platform integrated into the Sber ecosystem. It is especially important for patients who use voluntary health insurance programs and book through Sber services. Reviews here are strictly moderated: the platform verifies that the author really was a patient of the clinic.

3. Yandex Maps and 2GIS

This is where patients search for a dental clinic by location ("dentist near me") and make the final decision. But by then the decision is often already backed by information from medical platforms: on Yandex, patients are checking "whether the reviews are terrible and whether there are any signs of life" more than choosing a clinic from scratch.

4. Zoon, SberUslugi

Additional platforms with their own audiences. They matter less than the first three, but together they bring a significant share of traffic. Ignoring them means losing 10-15% of potential patients.

5. The clinic's own website with reviews

Reviews on your own website are a separate channel that affects both website conversion and SEO (reviews are user-generated content that Yandex and Google take into account in rankings). Modern dental clinics collect verified reviews (linked to the patient's personal account), which greatly increases trust.

The psychology of a dental patient

Understanding how dental patients think is the key to handling reviews properly. Several specific factors come into play here.

Factor 1. Fear and relief

Patients come to the dentist already anxious: for most people, the dentist means pain and unpleasant procedures. When the fear turns out to be unfounded (everything went well), they feel strong relief and gratitude. This emotional state is a great moment to ask for a review: the patient wants to "thank" the doctor, and a public review becomes a natural way to do it.

The practical takeaway: a review request works best not 2 days after the visit (as in other niches) but on the day of the visit, 30-60 minutes after the procedure, when the anesthetic is still working but the peak of relief has passed and turned into calm gratitude.

Factor 2. A long-term relationship with the doctor

Unlike a hairdresser or massage therapist, a dentist often becomes the "family dentist", and patients keep coming back for years. This means reviews should reflect the long-term relationship as well as a single visit. Detailed reviews like "I've been seeing Dr. Ivanov for 7 years, I've brought both my kids and my husband to him" are the most valuable format for dentistry.

Factor 3. The cost of the decision

Dental services are expensive. Implants can cost 200,000+ rubles, orthodontics from 100,000. With amounts like these, patients study reviews carefully before a visit, reading 30-40 reviews across different platforms. In dentistry the average rating matters, and so does the total volume of content a potential patient can read before booking.

How collecting reviews works in dentistry

1. Timing the request is critical

The best time to ask for a review is after a successful procedure, at checkout or right after it. The patient feels emotional relief, still remembers the details (the doctor's name, what was done) and hasn't been distracted by everyday tasks yet.

The worst time is the day after the procedure, when unpleasant sensations may appear (discomfort after anesthesia, post-operative swelling). If you ask for a review at that point, you may get a negative one: even if everything was done perfectly, the patient feels bad in the moment and blames the clinic.

If you need to delay the request (for example, after complex surgery that requires several days of recovery), the best time is 7-10 days after the visit, when the discomfort has passed and the result is visible.

2. A front desk script for a dental clinic

A generic "please leave a review" script doesn't work in dentistry: patients in this niche feel more vulnerable than in a cafe. You need a script that takes this into account.

Wording that works: "[Name], if you felt comfortable with us and Dr. [doctor's name] was able to help you, please share your experience in a review. Many patients choose a clinic based on real stories, and your review could really help someone finally get the treatment they've been putting off." Several elements work here: the doctor's name (personalization), the "help others" angle (ethical motivation) and the soft condition "if you felt comfortable" (no pressure).

3. What to keep in mind with SMS and email sequences

SMS text for dentistry should be gentler than for other niches. "Hello, [Name]! Thank you for trusting us. If you'd like to share your experience, we'd be grateful for a review: [link]. Dr. [Name]". A signature from the treating doctor (if you can integrate it with your CRM) raises conversion by 40-60% compared to a "The management" signature.

Legal nuances of handling reviews in dentistry

Medicine is the most strictly regulated field in Russia. This creates several restrictions and risks you need to keep in mind.

1. Medical confidentiality and public replies

Under Russian law (Federal Law No. 323-FZ "On the Fundamentals of Protecting Citizens' Health"), any information about the fact that a person sought medical care is protected by medical confidentiality. This means that in a public reply to a review you cannot confirm that the person was your patient, what procedures they had or who treated them, even if they wrote about it themselves in their review.

A proper reply to a negative review in dentistry: "Hello! We're sorry you were left with this impression. Without confirming your identity we can't discuss specific circumstances publicly, but if you are our patient, please contact our front desk at [number] and we'll look into the situation in detail." Never write anything like "Dr. Ivanov remembers your visit and says that...", because that is a violation.

2. Advertising medical services and reviews

The Federal Law on Advertising (No. 38-FZ) prohibits using patient reviews about specific treatment results in advertising for medical services. This limits the collection of "before/after photo reviews". Such photos are widely used in dentistry (especially cosmetic dentistry and orthodontics), but they should be published with care and presented as a "portfolio of clinical cases" rather than "reviews".

3. Consent to data processing

Asking for a review by SMS or email counts as processing the patient's personal data. Consent for this must be obtained in advance (usually when the patient signs the informed consent for treatment and the patient questionnaire). The questionnaire should include a separate checkbox: "I agree to receive informational messages and feedback requests".

How to reply to negative reviews in dentistry

A negative review in dentistry is a special case. It may contain accusations that are legally sensitive (poor-quality treatment, medical error), and the wrong reply can make things worse.

What to do ALWAYS

1. Reply within 24-48 hours: no reply to a medical complaint looks especially bad
2. Acknowledge the patient's distress, even if you disagree with the accusations ("We're sorry you were left with this impression")
3. Offer a private channel to sort out the situation: the phone number of the front desk or the chief physician
4. Keep a formal but human tone, without getting defensive or making excuses
5. If you are accused of a "medical error", always consult a lawyer before posting your reply

What NOT to do

1. Don't publicly confirm that the person was your patient (even if they say so themselves)
2. Don't discuss treatment details publicly: this breaches medical confidentiality
3. Don't argue with the patient: it always looks worse than the negative review itself
4. Don't threaten legal action, even if you have grounds. Threats made in public work against you
5. Don't rush to strike a deal with the patient to delete the review in exchange for compensation: that's an ethical and legal minefield

A special case: organized attacks by competitors

In dentistry this happens more often than in most other niches, because competition is fierce, especially in the premium segment. Signs of an attack: a sudden spike in negative reviews over a few days, reviews from accounts with no history or with a history only in the dental niche, repeated wording across different reviews, and mentions of specific "mistakes" that never happened.

What to do: 1) record everything suspicious (screenshots, dates, times), 2) file a complaint through the standard form pointing to a coordinated attack, 3) if it's on ProDoctorov, use the channel for clinic administrators (it has special procedures for these cases), 4) in serious cases, send a legal claim and bring in an IT expert who can document the signs of coordination.

How many reviews a dental clinic needs

Target numbers for different segments.

Budget dentistry (average bill of 3,000-8,000 rubles): 150-300 reviews on the main platform (Yandex or 2GIS, depending on the region) with a rating of 4.6-4.8. A high patient flow means reviews grow quickly.

Mid-range segment (average bill of 8,000-25,000 rubles): 100-200 reviews on Yandex plus 50-100 on ProDoctorov plus 30-50 on each of the additional channels. Quality matters more than quantity: you need detailed texts that mention specific procedures.

Premium dentistry (average bill of 25,000+ rubles): 80-150 reviews on the key platforms, but each one long, emotional and mentioning the level of service and a specific doctor. Here the rule is "quality over quantity".

The bottom line

Handling reviews in dentistry takes particular care, because the stakes are too high. One well-collected review that names a specific doctor and describes the experience can bring in 5-10 new patients. One careless public reply to a negative review that breaches medical confidentiality can lead to a complaint to Roszdravnadzor and problems with your license.

The main principles: work on 4-5 platforms at once (ProDoctorov, SberHealth, Yandex, 2GIS, your own website), ask for reviews at the right time (the day of the visit, or 7-10 days later for complex procedures), reply to negative reviews professionally and without disclosing medical details, and use incentive programs only in legal forms. And remember: in medicine, reputation takes years to build and one careless step to break.

Working with reviews in pediatric dentistry

Pediatric dentistry is a separate segment with its own rules for reviews. There are two target audiences here: the child (who needs to like the clinic) and the parent (who writes the review and makes the financial decisions).

What matters in pediatric dental reviews: the doctor's name (for children, the specific doctor often makes all the difference); how the child reacted to the appointment (cried or didn't, got scared or didn't); and the clinic's kid-friendly touches (cartoons during treatment, gifts for bravery, a play area).

A review request script for pediatric dentistry: "If your child did well at the appointment, it would really help us if you shared that experience. Many parents choose a children's clinic based on stories like this, and your review could really help another family finally get the treatment they've been putting off." Ethical motivation is especially strong in pediatric medicine.

Long-term treatment: orthodontics and implants

The premium segments of dentistry (orthodontics, implants, cosmetic restoration) have a fundamentally different review dynamic. Treatment here isn't a single visit but a long cycle, from 6 months to 2 years. This means the review gets written after treatment is complete, not right after a visit.

Collection strategy for the premium segment: set up "checkpoints" during treatment where it's appropriate to ask for a review. For orthodontics, for example: after the braces are fitted (overall impression of the clinic), after an intermediate stage (progress so far) and after they come off (the final result).

What sets premium reviews apart: they are long, emotional and come with "before/after" photos (but publishing photos requires the patient's consent!). In terms of impact on conversion, one review like this is worth 10-20 short ones: future patients in the premium segment read every review in full.