7 Steps to Get More Orthodontic Patients
You have probably tried something already. An agency that promised the moon. A redesigned website. Ads that ran for a few months and quietly stopped working. And you are still not sure whether any of it actually brought you patients.
You are not alone. Marketing for orthodontics is one of the most misunderstood areas in healthcare advertising — partly because orthodontic patients behave very differently from general dental patients, and most agencies do not adjust for that.
This article gives you a process built specifically around how orthodontic patients research, compare, and choose. Simple, clear, and grounded in how your patients actually behave.
What you will get:
- A 7-step marketing process built for orthodontics
- An understanding of how your patients find and choose you
- The activities most likely to bring real results — in order of priority
Solo Orthodontist or Multi-Chair Practice
The 7-step process is the same whether you run a single-chair specialist practice or a multi-site orthodontic group. What changes is the voice and the positioning.
A solo orthodontist sells trust through personal expertise. Patients are choosing you specifically — your experience, your approach, the relationship they will have with the same practitioner for the next 18 to 24 months. Your marketing should lead with that. Your face, your story, your results, your continuity of care.
A multi-chair or multi-site practice sells trust through capacity, consistency, and convenience. Patients are choosing the brand — the modern equipment, the range of treatment options, the appointment flexibility, the team behind the clinic. Your marketing should lead with that.
Both work. Neither is better. But pretending to be the other almost always falls flat. The process in this guide — and the broader framework in our marketing for clinics cornerstone — works for both, provided you stay honest about which you are.
Pick the position that is actually true for your practice, then market it without apology.
Before You Start: One Thing to Know
Good marketing for orthodontics is not built on gut feeling, design trends, or whatever an agency happens to be selling this quarter. It is built on understanding how a parent or an adult patient actually researches an orthodontic provider — and making deliberate decisions based on that.
Stop gambling with your marketing budget. Build a process and invest with confidence.
Step 1: Set a Clear Goal
Start with a specific number.
Example: "I want 15 new orthodontic starts per month."
For an orthodontic practice, your goal can be expressed in two layers — and both matter:
- New consultations booked per month
- New treatment starts per month (the consultations that convert)
Your goal must be specific, measurable, and realistic for your location, your team's capacity, and the treatment mix you offer. It is the foundation every other decision is built on.
A vague target like "more patients" is not a goal. It is a wish. And you cannot measure a wish.
If you do not know what success looks like, you will never know if you are getting there.
Step 2: Know Who You Are Targeting
Orthodontic patients are not urgent patients. They are not in pain. They are not searching at 11pm with a swollen jaw. They are researching — sometimes for weeks, sometimes for months — and they are comparing.
For most orthodontic practices, there are two core segments:
- Parents of children and teenagers, typically aged 8 to 16, looking into braces or aligners on behalf of their child. The parent is the decision-maker. The child influences but does not choose.
- Adults considering clear aligners or discreet braces, often Invisalign, usually aged 25 to 50. They have thought about it for years. Something has finally pushed them to act.
Both segments share traits that define how you must market to them:
- They are not in a rush
- They will visit two or three practices before deciding
- They expect a free or low-cost consultation
- They are influenced heavily by what they can see — before-and-after results, reviews, the look of your clinic
- They care deeply about the practitioner and the treatment plan, not just the price
An orthodontic patient is not buying a treatment — they are buying a result they can see in the mirror two years from now.
Other segments exist — adult retreatments, complex surgical orthodontics, post-restorative cases referred from general dentists. These are worth pursuing once your core acquisition is working consistently.
Step 3: Understand How They Choose You
When an orthodontic patient searches, they do not pick the first option they see. They shortlist three. Then they compare.
The mental ranking is roughly this:
- Reputation and visible results — Do the reviews look genuine? Are the before-and-after photos compelling?
- Treatment options — Do they offer what I want? Invisalign, ceramic braces, lingual, clear aligners?
- The consultation experience — Is the first appointment free or low-cost? Is the team warm and clear?
- Price and financing — Is the cost reasonable? Are there payment plans?
- Proximity — Reasonably close, but they will travel further than they would for emergency dental.
This is fundamentally different from urgent dental patients. A patient with a toothache picks on availability and location. An orthodontic patient picks on trust and proof.
Reviews and visible results decide who an orthodontic patient chooses long before they ever pick up the phone.
A practice with 80 strong reviews, a clear before-and-after gallery, and a visible free consultation offer will outperform a more expensive-looking website with no proof every single time.
Step 4: Choose Your Channel
Orthodontic patients almost always start their research on Google:
- "Invisalign near me"
- "orthodontist [city]"
- "braces for teenager [city]"
- "how much does Invisalign cost"
- "clear aligners vs braces"
But unlike urgent dental searches, the orthodontic search journey is longer. A parent might Google in week one, click a Facebook ad in week two, watch an Instagram reel in week three, and finally book in week four. The same person, multiple touchpoints, one decision.
This means your channel strategy needs two layers:
- Search-led acquisition — Google Ads and SEO to capture intent the moment a patient is actively looking
- Visibility and trust-building — Google Business Profile, Instagram or Facebook content showing real treatment results, and review generation
Social media is a legitimate part of orthodontic marketing — more so than for most healthcare niches — because the results are inherently visual. But it sits alongside Google, not instead of it.
If you want the broader strategic view across every healthcare niche, the marketing for clinics framework explains how channels interact across the full patient journey.
Google captures intent. Visual content builds trust. You need both — but always in that order.
There are three types of traffic to understand:
- Paid ads — high control, fast results, predictable. Build on this first.
- Word of mouth and reviews — medium control, built through exceptional consultations and treatment experiences. Nurture it constantly.
- Organic search and content — low control, slow to build, compounding value. Pursue consistently.
Step 5: Define Your Communication Strategy
Once you know your channel, define what you say and how it looks. For orthodontics, visuals carry more weight than copy. A parent will scan your before-and-after gallery before they read a single paragraph.
Your message — for a researching orthodontic patient, anchor it around three things:
- Results you can see — real cases, real outcomes, treated in your practice
- Treatment options — Invisalign, ceramic, traditional, lingual — explained clearly without jargon
- A reassuring next step — a free consultation, an easy way to ask questions, a friendly team
Your visuals — these must match the channel and reinforce the message:
- Google Ads — clean, professional, text-led, anchored around the offer (free consultation, price clarity, financing)
- Google Business Profile — real photos of your clinic, your team, your consultation room — authenticity wins
- Website — modern, fast, with a substantial before-and-after gallery and clear pricing or financing information
- Instagram and Facebook — strong before-and-after results, patient stories (with consent), short videos showing your team and your treatment process
In orthodontics, your visuals are not decoration — they are evidence.
A polished website with no real photos and no treatment results is worse than a simpler website that proves you can do the work.
Step 6: Track What Matters
Do not run marketing for orthodontics without measuring it. The numbers that matter are different from general dentistry — focus on the full funnel, not just enquiries.
Review these every month:
- New consultations booked per month
- Where each consultation came from (channel attribution)
- Consultation-to-start conversion rate
- New treatment starts per month
- Cost per consultation (from paid channels)
- Cost per new treatment start
- Average treatment value
- Google review count and rating
A practical example of how the numbers work for orthodontics. If your website converts at 8 to 10% to a consultation booking, and your consultation-to-start rate is around 60%, then for 15 new starts per month you need roughly 25 consultations — which means around 280 to 320 qualified visitors from your campaigns. At £5 to £7 per click on Google Ads for Invisalign and orthodontic keywords, that is approximately £1,500 to £2,200 per month on paid traffic alone — before SEO, social, and word of mouth add to the top of the funnel.
In orthodontics, the cost per start matters far more than the cost per click — and most practices never bother to calculate it.
Knowing your numbers turns marketing from an expense into an investment. You stop asking "can I afford this?" and start asking "how much more can I scale?"
Step 7: Optimise — Cut, Keep, and Improve
Once you have data, ask three questions every month:
- What is working? Do more of it. Increase budget, expand the geography, replicate the creative.
- What is underperforming? Adjust the message, the channel, or the offer before cutting it.
- What is clearly not working? Cut it and redirect the budget to what is.
Orthodontic marketing is rarely a single campaign that wins. It is a system that compounds — small adjustments month after month until your cost per start is half what it was a year ago.
The practices that grow consistently are not the ones with the biggest budgets. They are the ones that pay attention and adapt.
A Worked Example: An Orthodontic Practice in Leeds
To make the process tangible, here is how a realistic orthodontic practice in Leeds would apply the 7 steps end to end.
The practice
A two-orthodontist specialist practice in north Leeds offering Invisalign, ceramic braces, and traditional braces. Established for six years, with a reasonable Google review base (around 40 reviews at 4.7 stars), an outdated website, and no consistent paid marketing.
Step 1 — Set a Clear Goal
The principal sets a goal of 15 new treatment starts per month, up from a current average of 8 to 10. Average treatment value is £3,500. The target translates to roughly £52,500 in new monthly treatment value.
Step 2 — Know Who You Are Targeting
Two core segments are defined. First, parents of children aged 9 to 15 living within 12 km of the practice, researching braces. Second, adults aged 28 to 45 within the same radius researching Invisalign. The practice estimates the split as roughly 60% parents, 40% adult Invisalign.
Step 3 — Understand How They Choose You
The team accepts that reviews and visible results are the two biggest decision factors. They audit their own Google profile, realise their before-and-after gallery on the website is thin, and commit to a structured plan to fix both.
Step 4 — Choose Your Channel
Google Ads is selected as the primary acquisition channel, targeting "Invisalign Leeds", "orthodontist Leeds", "braces for teenager Leeds", and around 40 related variations. Google Business Profile is optimised in week one. A review-generation system is built into the practice's end-of-consultation routine.
Step 5 — Define Your Communication Strategy
The headline message becomes: "Specialist orthodontists in Leeds. Free initial consultation. Flexible monthly payment plans." Visuals are updated across the website and Google Business Profile — real photos of the clinic, the team, and 30 new before-and-after cases with patient consent.
Step 6 — Track What Matters
A simple tracking dashboard is set up. Monthly review of consultations booked, source, consultation-to-start rate, cost per consultation, and cost per start. The practice budgets £1,800 per month for Google Ads in month one and commits to reviewing performance every 30 days.
Step 7 — Optimise
By month three, the data shows Invisalign keywords convert at a higher rate than children's braces keywords — but children's braces deliver lower cost per start because competition is softer. Budget is rebalanced. By month six, the practice is averaging 14 to 16 new starts per month at a cost per start of around £130 — comfortably profitable on a £3,500 average treatment.
A worked example is just a process applied with patience. Most practices have never given their marketing six honest months — and that is usually the only thing missing.
The Activities That Work for Orthodontics — In Order of Priority
Based on the process above, here is exactly what to do — and in what order.
1. Your Website — The Foundation Everything Is Built On
- Before anything else, you need a website that converts orthodontic researchers into consultation bookings
- It must load fast on mobile, look modern, and showcase real treatment results
- A substantial before-and-after gallery is non-negotiable for orthodontics
- Clear pricing or financing information removes the biggest friction point
- Every other activity sends people here first — a weak website wastes every other pound
In orthodontics, your website is your portfolio. If it does not show your work, it is not doing its job.
2. Google Business Profile (Google Maps)
- Non-negotiable — this is often the first impression a researching patient gets
- Complete every field: hours, photos, services, treatments offered, booking link
- Add real photos of the practice, the team, and the consultation rooms
- Actively collect Google reviews here every single week
An incomplete Google Business Profile is the single biggest unforced error in orthodontic marketing.
3. Word of Mouth and Reviews
- The most trusted source when a parent or adult chooses an orthodontist
- Built through an exceptional consultation experience and a smooth treatment journey
- A structured review request after the consultation and again after fitting compounds quickly
- Parents talk to other parents. Adults talk to colleagues. One delighted patient is worth months of advertising
Your best marketing happens inside the consultation room. Everything after that is amplification.
4. Google Ads (and Bing Ads)
- The fastest way to appear when an orthodontic patient is actively researching
- Bid on treatment-specific keywords — Invisalign, clear aligners, ceramic braces, lingual braces
- Bing Ads are often overlooked and typically cost 30 to 50% less per click
- Only works well if your website converts and your offer is clear (free consultation, financing visible)
Paid search is the most controllable patient acquisition tool an orthodontic practice has. Most practices underuse it because they have never measured it properly.
5. Social Media — Specifically Instagram and Facebook
- More important for orthodontics than for most healthcare niches because results are inherently visual
- Focus on real before-and-after results, short treatment-progress videos, and patient stories with consent
- Choose one or two platforms and post consistently rather than spreading thin
- Builds trust before a patient ever visits your website — they often check Instagram before booking
- Pair organic content with light paid promotion of your best-performing posts
In orthodontics, social media is not a brand exercise — it is a proof gallery your future patients are scrolling through right now.
6. Organic Search and SEO
- Builds long-term visibility for high-intent searches like "Invisalign [city]" and "orthodontist [city]"
- Takes time — allow 4 to 6 months before meaningful traffic arrives
- A strong, well-managed Google Business Profile is the fastest local SEO win
- Treatment-specific pages on your site (Invisalign, ceramic, lingual) compound in value over years
SEO is the asset that keeps producing patients long after the ad budget runs out — but only if you start now.
7. Follow-Up System
- Orthodontic practices have an unusual advantage: a 12 to 24 month treatment relationship with every patient
- A structured follow-up turns that relationship into reviews, referrals, and family-and-friend bookings
- A message after the consultation, a check-in after fitting, a personal note when treatment finishes, a referral prompt at the right moment
- Costs almost nothing and consistently produces the cheapest new patients you will ever acquire
Your existing patients are the cheapest marketing channel you will ever have. Most practices ignore them entirely.
8. Letterbox Flyers With a Strong Offer
- Less impulsive than for general dental, but still effective for orthodontic practices building local awareness
- Target schools, family-heavy postcodes, and workplaces within a short radius of your practice
- Lead with the free consultation and a clear benefit — straighter teeth in 12 months, flexible payment plans
- Designed for the parent on the fridge, not the patient at the desk
A great offer gets a parent through the door. A great consultation turns them into a treatment start.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fastest way to get new orthodontic patients?
Google Ads targeting your local area for high-intent keywords like "Invisalign [city]" or "orthodontist [city]". You appear at the top of search results the moment a patient is actively researching, and you only pay when they click. For orthodontic practices, it consistently delivers the fastest measurable return on marketing spend.
How much should an orthodontic practice spend on marketing?
A practical starting point is 6 to 10% of your target monthly treatment revenue. For a goal of £50,000 in new monthly treatment starts, a marketing budget of £3,000 to £5,000 is reasonable. Start with what you can commit to consistently for at least six months, measure cost per treatment start, then scale.
How important are Google reviews for an orthodontic practice?
Google reviews are often the single deciding factor for an orthodontic patient choosing between two practices. A consistent flow of genuine reviews builds trust, improves local search visibility, and directly influences how many researching patients choose you. Make collecting reviews a structured part of every consultation and every treatment milestone.
Orthodontic decisions take weeks. During that time, patients re-check your reviews multiple times. The volume, recency, and rating all matter.
How do I get more Google reviews for my orthodontic practice?
The simplest approach is a friendly, personal request after the consultation and again after fitting. Send a short message thanking the patient and include a direct link to your Google review page. Most patients are happy to leave a review when asked at the right moment by someone they trust.
Train the team to ask in person. A verbal request followed by a digital reminder converts far better than a digital reminder alone.
Should orthodontists invest in social media marketing?
Yes — more than most healthcare niches. Orthodontic results are inherently visual, and before-and-after content performs exceptionally well on Instagram and Facebook. Focus on real treatment results, patient stories with consent, and short videos showing your team. Choose one or two platforms and post consistently rather than spreading thin.
Social media will not replace Google for capturing high-intent patients, but it builds the trust that converts a researcher into a booker.
What should an orthodontic practice post on social media?
Focus on content that proves outcomes and builds trust: before-and-after treatment photos with patient consent, short videos of Invisalign and braces progress, patient testimonials, team introductions, and clear explanations of treatment options. Avoid generic dental health tips — patients follow orthodontic accounts to see results, not read advice.
Quality beats quantity. Two strong posts a week will outperform daily filler.
How local should orthodontic marketing be?
Local, but with a wider radius than general dental. Most orthodontic patients will travel 10 to 20 km for the right practice, especially for Invisalign or specialist treatment. Focus your Google Ads, your SEO content, and your physical marketing within a realistic radius — and adjust based on where your actual patients live.
Look at your existing patient postcodes. Your real catchment area is rarely what you assume.
Does an orthodontic practice need a website?
Yes — without exception. For orthodontics, your website is your portfolio. It must showcase before-and-after results, explain treatment options clearly, display pricing or financing information, and make booking a consultation effortless. Ads, social media, and your Google Business Profile all send people to your website first.
If your website does not prove you can do the work, every other channel underperforms.
What makes a good orthodontic website?
Four things matter most for orthodontics: speed, a substantial before-and-after gallery, clear treatment and pricing information, and an effortless consultation booking process. It must load quickly on mobile, look modern and trustworthy, and remove every barrier between a researching patient and a booked consultation.
Real photos of your clinic and team are essential. Stock imagery actively damages trust in this niche.
What is the difference between Google Ads and SEO for orthodontists?
Google Ads puts you at the top of search results immediately — you pay per click, but results are fast and controllable. SEO builds visibility in the unpaid results over months, costs nothing per click once established, and compounds in value. The strongest orthodontic strategy uses both — paid ads for immediate consultations while SEO grows quietly in the background.
What is a Google Business Profile and why does it matter for orthodontists?
A Google Business Profile is the listing that appears when someone searches for your practice or for orthodontists in your area on Google Maps. It shows your name, address, hours, photos, treatments, and reviews. It is often the first impression a researching patient has of your clinic — and it is completely free to manage.
For orthodontics, an incomplete or photo-poor profile is one of the most expensive mistakes you can make.
How does a follow-up system help an orthodontic practice grow?
Orthodontic practices have unusually long patient relationships — 12 to 24 months of regular appointments. A structured follow-up system turns that into a consistent flow of reviews, referrals, and family bookings. Messages after consultation, fitting, key milestones, and treatment completion compound into one of the cheapest acquisition channels available.
Most practices never build one. The ones that do quietly outperform.
How do letterbox flyers work for orthodontic practices?
A well-designed flyer delivered to family-heavy postcodes within a short radius — paired with a clear free consultation offer and visible financing — can build a steady stream of consultations, particularly for newer practices. Orthodontic decisions are considered, so the flyer rarely converts on first sight. It plants a seed the parent acts on weeks later.
What is the biggest marketing mistake orthodontic practices make?
Treating orthodontic patients like urgent dental patients. Orthodontic patients are researchers — they compare, they take weeks to decide, and they are heavily influenced by visible proof. Practices that lead with availability and proximity rather than reputation, results, and clarity consistently underperform, regardless of how much they spend.
The second biggest mistake is never calculating cost per treatment start. Without that number, every marketing decision is a guess.
How long does it take for orthodontic marketing to show results?
It depends on the channel. Google Ads can produce booked consultations within the first week. Social media and reviews build steadily over two to three months. SEO typically takes 4 to 6 months for meaningful traffic. The most effective approach combines a fast-acting channel like paid ads with slower-compounding investments in SEO, content, and review generation.
Can an orthodontic practice grow without paid advertising?
Yes — but it takes longer and demands patience. A strong Google Business Profile, consistent review generation, a steady flow of before-and-after content, and SEO can build a full patient base over time. Paid ads are the fastest way to accelerate growth, especially for a new practice — but the two approaches work best together rather than in competition.
How do I market a new orthodontic practice that is just opening?
Four priorities first: build a fast, modern website with a before-and-after gallery and clear consultation booking; fully complete your Google Business Profile with real photos; launch a focused Google Ads campaign on local treatment-specific keywords; and run a letterbox flyer campaign with a free consultation offer in family-heavy postcodes nearby. Do these well before adding anything else.
Is Invisalign worth marketing separately from general orthodontics?
Yes — almost always. Invisalign searches have higher commercial intent, attract adult patients with higher conversion rates, and warrant their own ad campaigns and website pages. Treating Invisalign as just one of many treatments dilutes both the message and the budget. A dedicated Invisalign page and dedicated ad campaign typically outperforms a generic orthodontic approach significantly.
What does an orthodontic marketing budget actually get you?
At £1,500 to £2,500 per month on Google Ads in most UK markets, an orthodontic practice can typically generate 20 to 30 consultation enquiries — depending on competition, treatment mix, and website conversion. With a 50 to 65% consultation-to-start rate, that produces 10 to 18 new treatment starts. Every market is different, which is why tracking cost per start from day one is essential.
If you are building your orthodontic marketing from scratch, the same 7-step process underpins our full marketing for clinics framework — used by health practitioners across every speciality to grow predictably without wasting budget on tactics that do not fit how their patients actually choose.