Should dentists reply to Google reviews? What the data shows, and how to do it safely
Yes. Replies are free and every prospective patient can read them. Yet in our study, dental practices reply to 49% of reviews on average, and half of practices reply to fewer than half. For comparison, US med spas reply to about 61%.
- Average owner reply rate: 49%.
- 50% of practices reply to half or more of their reviews; 50% reply to fewer than half.
- Healthcare rule: never confirm a reviewer is a patient or discuss their care (HIPAA).
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Half of dental practices reply to fewer than half their reviews
Average reply rate across the 120-practice review subsample: 49%.
A HIPAA-safe reply standard for dental practices
- Never confirm a patient relationship or mention treatment, even if the reviewer did.
- Negative reviews: acknowledge, don't argue, and invite a call to the office.
- Treatment-plan complaints: these are the most common negative theme (upselling). A calm, general reply shows readers you listen.
- Reply within 48 hours, owned by one named person, from a short template bank.
Method: reply rate = share of up to 50 recent Google reviews per practice with an owner reply, in a 120-practice subsample. General information, not legal advice. See the methodology & data.
What US dental practice patients expect, and where they don't get it
Findings from our study of 2,318 US dental practices across 20 metros and about 3,000 patient reviews. Read the findings below, or download the complete report.
Related pages from the US team
New reviews per month
Review pace benchmarks.
The upselling mismatch
The complaints most worth replying to.
State of Dental Google Presence 2026
The full study.
FTC rules on reviews
What practices can and can't do.
Every practice welcome — Goals-Driven engagements from $499/mo
We benchmark your last 90 days, agree monthly goals with you, and track them live on Ichelon Agency OS with a report every Monday. Performance-Linked Payout Models are available. Our US leadership is based in Dallas, and strategy calls run in US business hours.
Common questions
Should dentists reply to every Google review?
Replying to every review is a good standard. In our study, dental practices replied to 49% of reviews on average and 50% replied to fewer than half.
How should a dentist reply to a negative review?
Acknowledge the concern without confirming the person is a patient or discussing treatment, and invite them to contact the office directly. Disclosing patient information in a review reply can breach HIPAA.
How should a dentist reply to a positive review?
Briefly, for example "Thank you for your kind words", without mentioning any procedure or confirming the reviewer is a patient.
A note on this guide: it explains marketing practice, not legal advice. Rules on privacy, advertising and insurance change and vary by state, so confirm anything compliance-related with your own counsel.
Want replies handled consistently and safely?
A free 30-minute call with the US team. We'll check your reply rate and share HIPAA-safe reply templates.