Dentist website: what patients check before they call

Two kinds of people visit a dentist's website: one with a toothache who wants a phone to answer today, and one choosing a dentist who wants to know if you're taking new patients, take their insurance, and what happens if they have none.

In October 2026 we opened 22 independent dental practice websites in 11 states. Most had a tappable phone number. Very few said which insurance they take, whether they take Medicaid, or what a cleaning costs without coverage. And a dental site must keep patients' health information off it.

This isn't legal advice. Dental advertising and privacy rules are set by your state dental board and by federal law, and they differ from state to state. We read Texas's and California's rules in detail, and what we found is below. Check yours with your state board, and with a lawyer if you're unsure.

Put your phone number and your booking button at the top

Seventeen of the 22 sites had a tappable number on the first phone screen.

1. Click Business info in the left menu and fill in Phone. Visitors can tap it, and it shows in your header and footer.
2. Click Menu. Under Header button, turn on Call bar on phones, type Button text like "Request an appointment", and under Goes to choose Another website… and paste your online scheduling link (or point it at your contact page).

Use one main number, the same as on your Google profile. See Business info and hours. If your scheduling tool gives you code instead of a link, use an Embed code section (Add embed code, or write your own). Your practice software keeps the schedule; see What we can't do for a dental practice.

Say whether you're taking new patients, and give your hours

Only 8 of the 22 sites said they were accepting new patients. Directories often get it wrong.

1. Say it in your home page's opening words or a Highlights section, like "Welcoming new patients" and "Open Saturdays".
2. In Business info, set Regular hours for every day, Saturday and Sunday too.
3. Add an Open today section near the top of your home page. None of the 22 sites had one.

For a closed day, see Close for today; for holiday hours, the Announcement bar.

Name your insurance, and say yes or no to Medicaid

Patients search "dentist that takes Delta Dental" and "dentist that accepts Medicaid". Seven of the 22 sites named the plans they take. Only two said anything about Medicaid, and both said no. "Most insurance accepted" isn't believed.

1. Click Pages, then New page, and make a page called "Insurance and payment" from the Pricing or menu template, or add a Text section to your Contact page.
2. List each plan you take by name, and say whether you're in-network (you have a contract with that plan, so say it only when true) or out-of-network. If out of network, say what you'll still do: file the claim, collect payment at the visit, and what they can expect back.
3. Say yes or no for Medicaid, Medicare and your state's dental plan. A plain "no" beats silence.
4. Link the page from your footer (Menu, then Footer links, then Add footer link), and put a line on the home page: "In-network with Delta Dental and Cigna. We don't take Medicaid."

Don't advertise that you'll waive a copay or a deductible. Several states treat that as insurance fraud, because the insurer is told you charged one fee and you collected another. A free consultation is fine in most places.

Help people who don't have insurance

Nine of the 22 sites offered a membership plan, and only two showed its price. None gave a price for a cleaning or an exam. For a plan, add a Packages section to your Insurance and payment page. Fill in Name, Price, Price note ("a month") and What’s included. Use Fine print to say it's not insurance, when it renews, and how to cancel: automatic-renewal laws in several states (California and New York, for example) require clear terms and an easy way to cancel. Point the Button at your sign-up page. Don't sell plans through payment links or the online store.

• Financing: name the lender, like CareCredit (named by 13 of the 22 sites), and link to its apply page. Say it's a credit product with its own terms, and that "no interest if paid in full" means interest is charged back to the start if it isn't paid off in time.
• What things cost: give your usual price for an exam, X-rays and a cleaning, and promise a written estimate for anything else. Self-pay patients can ask for a federal good-faith estimate; say how.
• Don't promise a price you can't keep. In California, a price ad has to be exact: no "as low as" or "and up".

Say what to do in a dental emergency

Fourteen of the 22 sites described emergency care, but only 8 said what to do after hours. Add a Services card or an "Emergency dental care" page: same-day visits and to call first, the after-hours number (if there isn't one, say so, and when to go to the emergency room), and short first-aid help. Add a Call to action with Show phone number on.

Keep health information off your site

This matters most and is easiest to get wrong. If your office sends insurance claims electronically, you're probably covered by HIPAA, the federal health privacy law. Your website's forms, inbox, signed forms and chat aren't built to protect health information, and there's no business associate agreement behind them, which HIPAA asks for. A form on your site sends each message to your email inbox, so a patient who types symptoms into it has put health information into email.

So use your site's forms for one thing: asking for an appointment.

1. On your contact page, find the Form section. Under Start from, open Choose a ready-made form… and pick Appointment request.
2. Change Label for the message box to a scheduling question, like "What days and times work for you?" The ready-made "Anything we should know?" invites symptoms.
3. Turn off Let people attach photos.
4. Under Intro, add: "Please don't send health information here. We'll call you to talk through your visit." Use Thank-you message to say when you'll call back.
5. If you'll text people, turn on Consent checkbox and choose Text messages (Add a consent checkbox).

Don't put medical history, medications, date of birth or insurance ID numbers in any form on your site. The editor flags a form that asks for them. See Don't collect health information.

Three more things to keep off patient pages:

• Ad pixels, heat maps and session recording. Of the 22 sites, 4 loaded a Facebook script, 3 ran a session-recording or heat-map tool, and 4 used call tracking. Patients sued Aspen Dental over tracking on its appointment pages, and it agreed to settle for about $18.4 million. We don't add any of these, and our visitor stats count visits without cookies (see Search and sharing). Before pasting in a marketing company's code, ask whether it sends data from your appointment page.
• Review requests and newsletters to your patient list. Those add-ons would send patients' names and emails through a service that hasn't signed a HIPAA agreement. Share your Leave-a-review link at the front desk instead. See Reviews.
• New-patient forms. Keep them in your practice software; don't build them in the site's form editor.

Add a privacy page, and link your privacy notice

Make a page from the Privacy policy template. Say the site collects only the appointment-request form and visit counts without cookies. If your office is covered by HIPAA, federal rules say you must post your Notice of Privacy Practices on a website that describes your services: link the PDF your practice already has. Link both from the footer.

Introduce your dentists

Fifteen of the 22 sites gave each dentist's school or degree. Click Lists, then Edit team, then Add person, fill in Name, Role, Photo, Short bio and Credentials, and add a Team section to your About page. See Your team.

A general dentist who offers implants, aligners or root canals should say "general dentist" and not claim to be a specialist without completing the advanced program. Texas requires "General Dentist" after your name in ads for specialty services; other states have their own rules.

Be careful what you promise

State dental boards limit claims patients can't check. Texas rules bar claims of painless dental work and unprovable claims that one practice is better than another. Eight of the 22 sites used "painless" or "pain-free".

• Instead of "painless", say how you keep people comfortable: "We numb first and take breaks whenever you raise a hand."
• Instead of "best", give a fact you can prove: "Seeing families here since 1998", or your real Google rating with its count. For "voted best", say who voted and when. Skip guarantees of results.

Before-and-after photos. Six of the 22 sites had a smile gallery, and none said results vary. If you show them:

1. Use only real patients who gave written permission. HIPAA generally requires a signed authorization to use a patient's photo or story in marketing, and Texas says before-and-after photos must be of actual patients of record. Keep the signed form in your files, not on the site.
2. Don't retouch them. Name the procedure, and add "Results vary. Photos are of actual patients." See Projects.

Show your reviews

Three of the 22 sites showed a rating with a review count. Add your best Google reviews to your Reviews list, word for word (Reviews), a Reviews section on your home page, and your rating and count in Highlights. Rules from federal health privacy law:

• Copy only what the reviewer posted publicly, in their words, and never add to it about their care.
• If you reply, don't confirm they're a patient or mention treatment. "Please call the office so we can talk" is safe. The federal health privacy regulator has settled with providers who answered a negative review with details.
• Don't offer a discount or gift for a good review. The FTC's rule on reviews bars paying for positive reviews.

Put your forms and the first visit in one place

Fifteen of the 22 sites linked a forms or new-patient page, and only 6 let patients fill the forms out online first. Make a "New patients" page from the Service page template: what happens at a first visit, what to bring (photo ID, insurance card, a medication list to bring in person), old X-rays, and a button to the forms in your practice software. Add your cancellation policy (Policies template); only 2 of the 22 sites gave the notice they need.

Tell people about the care you offer

List each main service in Services, and give the ones you do often a page from the Service page template with a search title with your town. Say if you refer it out. See Set a page's search title and description.

What we can't do for a dental practice

• Patient appointments. The Bookings & RSVPs add-on keeps its own calendar, not connected to your practice software, so two calendars could book the same chair. Link to your software's scheduling page. See Connect a booking calendar.
• Patient forms, health history and chat about symptoms. See Keep health information off your site.
• A patient login. We can't make a patient portal. Link to your practice software's.
• Sending insurance claims or taking insurance payments. That stays in your practice software.

Make your site work for everyone

Six of the 22 sites ran an accessibility "overlay" widget. Those can't make a site meet the guidelines, and the FTC ordered one overlay company to pay $1 million over claims that it could. Instead, describe your photos and add an Accessibility statement page.

Photos that help people trust you

Real photos of your office and team beat stock ones. Keep patients out of the shots: no sign-in sheets, names on a screen or real X-rays. Until you have your own, see Free photos.

Answer the questions patients ask

Add an FAQ section: new patients, insurance and Medicaid, no insurance, cleaning costs, emergencies, children, cancellation fees. See Use suggested questions.

Tips

• Keep your domain renewed: two practices' old addresses had turned into a parked page and a gambling page. See Connect your domain.
• If you take Medicaid or Medicare, ask your state or a lawyer whether you need a language-assistance notice. See Show your site in Spanish.